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Designer’s inquiry
As designers, how do we relate to the structural precariousness of everyday life, to the cuts to culture and welfare, to the lack of social protection and support as workers? How are we reacting to an educational system that forms “industry-ready” creative subjects? How aware are we, as producers of knowledge and languages, of being a fundamental component of the current economic system?
The investigation Designers’ Inquiry takes as a starting point both questions like these and a series of difficulties in contemporary society that brought us to desire a radical change for our lives. The inquiry can thus be seen as an attempt to address these questions and desires: on the one hand, by capturing the conditions of life and work of designers in Italy, and, on the other hand, by initiating a dialogue as well as a critical reflection on the profession itself.
Influenced by the model of co-research, the 78 questions elaborated in theDesigners’ Inquiry tried to involve the participants in a reflection on their own condition, thereby opening the path for possible cooperations and common struggles. A first “collective step” had already been taken in the stages following the collection of the responses: the evaluation of the data and their conceptual, visual and verbal elaboration have been developed publicly through workshops at which a diversity of designers interested in the project participated. The long-term objective of Designers’ Inquiry is to continue to produce tools of analysis, but above all tools for shared actions that aim at intervening in the present state of reality.
Klezbodians
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Searching for words:
Dromomania, also travelling fugue, is an uncontrollable psychological urge to wander.[1] People with this condition spontaneously depart from their routine, travel long distances and take up different identities and occupations. Months may pass before they return to their former identities. The term comes from the Greek: dromos (running) and mania (insanity).[2]
The most famous case was that of Jean-Albert Dadas, a Bordeaux gas-fitter. Dadas would suddenly set out on foot and reach cities as far away as Prague, Vienna or Moscow with no memory of his travels. A medical student, Philippe Tissie, wrote about Dadas in his doctoral dissertation in 1887.[3]
Jean-Martin Charcot presented a similar case he called automatisme ambulatoire – French for “ambulatory automatism” or “walking around without being in control of one’s own actions.”
Only a handful of cases of such behaviour have been documented, nearly all in France in the late nineteenth century. On the other hand, dromomania in wider sense (e.g. spontaneous change of location undertaken due to dysphoria) can be characteristic of other mental disorders, e.g. Borderline personality disorder.
More generally, the term is sometimes used to describe people who have a strong emotional or even physical need to be constantly traveling and experiencing new places, often at the expense of their normal family, work, and social lives.
Interior tempo
What if each place with its own genius loci would shape a certain tempo inside each individual? Could we imagine each culture having an own speed. Inthat case whatwould be cambodia’s? An andante? And italy’s? Allegretto scherzoso? Maybe lately just an adagio. And china ?Maybe vivace marziale?
Frontiere
Ci si sposta sempre verso una frontiera, sia geografica che mentale. Ora la frontiera e, la birmania (come la continuiamo a chiamare noi giusti ). La frontiera della frntiera e’ I’ll confine geografico con la tailandia perche’ da sempre I confini sono territori non del tutto codificati, territoriche presentano uno scarto e dove c’e’ una differenza c’e’ sempre un potenziale.
Allora se la birmania si aprira’ , come sembrerebbe dalle ultime riforme, tuttisaremopronti a trarne vantaggio.
Piu’ per curiosita’ che per opportunita’, spero, mi convinco a salire in aereo e poiin autoper cinque ore con un khmer cinese assistenre di un non definito tycoon, un laotiano con passaorto francese, la sua ragazza enun birmano che vive da 15anni in tailandia.
Fuoridal finstrino un nastro di cartelloni pubblicitari, capannoni e case costruite negli stili piu’ ecclettici.
L’impiantostereo propone un’ accozzaglia di successi musicali degliultimi quindici anni.
Dopo sette ore di auto arriviamo in un paese e iniziamo a cercare un certo dottore. All’ ospedale non c’e’.
Andiamo sulla linea di confine. Un casotto in metallo delimita questa linea immginaria. Birmani e tai camminno al di qua e al di la’ senza troppa attenzione.
Troviamo I’ll dottore, seguiamo la sua auto dentro un golf club, in realta’ siamogia’in myanmar senza dover aver il visto.
Con due auto andiamo a vedere tre possibili siti per il progetto.
Due sono I cortili di case di amici. Il terzo vicino ad una pagoda e a pochi metri da un cancello che delimita ilconfine in quel punto si dimostra ideale.
Torniqmo indietro,aspettiamo ad un negozio che l’autista vada acomprare alcolici da regalare in giro. Poi seguimao una moto di una specie di guardia. Entriamo nel cortile duna casa. Usciamo dall,altra parte: siamo in tailandia.
I due villaggi, queelo tai e quello birmano, sono intrecciati, un luogo perfetto per un racconto di carroll. Solo guardando le case si capisce in quale paese ci si/trova.