Erik Sandelin defends his doctoral thesis "Design and Grace – An Ahuman Odyssey"

In a world where human activities often violently constrict the lives of others, how can designers cultivate creative acts of withdrawal, foreclosure and leaving be?

Welcome to the public defence 13 June at 1 pm in Svarta Havet at Konstfack, organized by KTH's and Konstfack's joint Doctoral Programme in Art, Technology and Design. Zoom: https://konstfack-se.zoom.us/j/64571135420

Design is conventionally comprehended in terms of making new things; designers act through addition and intervention. But, in a world where human activities often violently constrict the lives of others, how can designers also cultivate creative acts of withdrawal, foreclosure and leaving be? This dissertation employs grace – actively not doing what you are able to do – to decouple action from force and passivity from resignation in design.

To explore the friction between design and grace Erik Sandelin conducts practical design experiments, and uses theoretical tools from Michel Serres, Patricia MacCormack, Simone Weil, and from critical animal studies. The dissertation operates in the nexus of two emerging design landscapes: design and animals, and design and negation. Through recomposing situations where humans consume other animals (eating, angling and shopping) the experiments seek to populate a growing palette of affirmative nos and nots in design.

"Design and Grace" tends to a friction at the core of design, that between proposing and imposing. It seeks to provide designers and design researchers with confidence, precision and generative exemplars in envisioning and manifesting vital, effective and beautiful nos and nots.

Abstract (also in Swedish) and link to full text: Erik Sandelin - Konstfack

Faculty opponent: Alex Wilkie – Goldsmiths, University of London
Examining committee: Amelie Björck – Södertörn University, Pelle Ehn – Malmö University, Eva Haifa Giraud – University of Sheffield, Simone Kotva – University of Oslo, Johan Redström – Umeå University
Supervisors: Martín Ávila – Konstfack, Helena Pedersen – University of Gothenburg
Chair: Meike Schalk – KTH

Konstfack, LM Ericssons väg 14, subway station Telefonplan, Stockholm