MUO-E8023 - Values in Design Futures D, 21.04.2021-26.05.2021
This course space end date is set to 26.05.2021 Search Courses: MUO-E8023
Group work: Preposterous Helsinki Futures
Summary
This group assignment involves creating an image. The image should communicate a vision of a specific socio-ecological-technological novelty related to the politics of material waste.
In the process,
students will explore values in the present and imagine a ‘preposterous’ future
to highlight them.
Each student will be assigned to a group in week 2. Brief interim presentations will be held in week 5 (formative evaluation; feedback given, not graded, mandatory to pass), and final presentations in week 6, the final day of the course.
Aims
● To work creatively in groups on a vision of a future
● To identify at a general level how making deliberate interventions in everyday life involves value judgements and shapes environments
● To communicate about complex socio-ecological-technological issues
Deliverables
1. A 2-dimensional image (A3 size, high resolution, digitally reproduced, pdf format).
2. On another page, an extended caption of about 400-500 words describing the preposterous future displayed by the image.
3. In a separate file, contextualize your work. Provide a briefly annotated list of sources you used for background research and full references as you would for an essay or report. Add a paragraph stating what each group member contributed to the whole.
The brief
In groups, brainstorm and then produce a visual image of a space in the Helsinki region around the year 2050 featuring a novelty – an innovative system, object or other novelty – designed to address problems around material waste. You should aspire to create a ‘preposterous’ future, as inspired by Joseph Voros: “these are the futures we judge to be ‘ridiculous’, ‘impossible’, or that will ‘never’ happen”. Use the concept to help you steer your vision in a particular direction. (See https://thevoroscope.com/2015/12/28/on-examining-preposterous-futures/)
The future you envision should incorporate one or more explicitly designed interventions underpinned by concerns for sustainability (as we understand it today). It should also be based on a set of shared values that your group decides to explore together. Make these explicit in the caption. Remember, the values you select need not be ones that you personally or as a group would endorse.
You are encouraged to make use of the Futures Wheel, introduced in week 2, to help you progress your ideas. You can use any method, however, to help you think collectively. You are, however, encouraged to be clear about how you share responsibilities for completing the assignment from early on. Briefly outline your division of labour in your contextualizing file (#3 above).
As you work, concentrate on thinking about the people who will be affected, the benefits and disbenefits involved, and how both material and symbolic elements will have been deconstructed and then reconstructed to produce your vision. What role do values play (will they have played) in these constructions? Also consider potential areas of friction.
You are free to choose style of the image and tools to create it (photographs, renderings, collages, digital or analogue are all ok). Submit it as a pdf that can be printed as A3. As a guideline, take photographs of a site and overlay components of the vision on it. Your caption (400 – 500 words) should explain the main points and any details that cannot be inferred from the visual.
Assessment will be based on the analytical work reflected in your picture rather than its artistic merits. However, visually it must be sufficiently clear and compelling that the story that the audience can appreciate its message.
Rubric
Research 33% (Quality and depth of research: main evidences are the research folder and caption)
Analysis 33% (Quality and depth of analysis: main forms of evidence are the caption and the image)
Communication 33% (Quality of written and visual communication: main evidences are the image and caption)
Note: The work is reviewed holistically and at times a clear distinction between assessment criteria may be difficult.
Assessment
Weighting: 25% of total course grade, pass/fail basis.
Short presentations for peer-feedback: 19.05.2021
Final presentations: 26.05.2021
Due Date: May 28, 23:59, upload on MyCourses.
This same information is contained in the attached pdf-file.
- 26 April 2021, 11:04 AM