Situated Design Practices
What constitutes a situated design practice? I began with an intuitive foundation of the concept, expanded it through digital discourse, and visualized it through our series of practical explorations.
My framing is practicing design within a defined context, whether that be location, community or environment, and allowing those parameters to inform the outcomes of the practice. You design with the context, for the context, and ultimately through the context. This philosophy is certainly important to apply in the context of my ongoing design research on embodying belonging through geological materials. I have observed that the outcomes vary significantly based on the specific terrain I engage with. Intentionally defining the locus of your practice is the key to distinctive exploration.
Our visit to the Barcelona Supercomputing Center revealed a context defined by technology-centered design. It was interesting to see the striking contrast between the supercomputer situated in the basement of the corporate headquarters versus the quantum computer housed within an old chapel, the latter granted a sacred sanctuary that makes it the center of a hyperreal digital context – design situated around the intangible digital realm.
Cal Negre provided a completely contrasting context – a grounding in nature as the ultimate situating force. It was one of my favorite days by far. Being in nature and creating with nature was exactly the kind of anchoring I needed. I have longed to get my hands dirty while creating with the raw and transporting nature of Earth. Working with locally sourced wild clay from around the Llobregat river in El Prat, an area of Barcelona contested by the push and pull of conflicting economic interests, was an indicator of the power of place. What separates one person making ceramics from the next one? Using the material of your local neighborhood certainly is one element. Seeing Maria and Tom living by the way of the land, combining the material of the particular context they are situated in with found objects to create sculptural pieces proved that a practice is most meaningful when localized and tangible. A uniquely defined location, community and practice creates a personalized outcome. Generic misses, personal anchors.
Essentially it all comes down to one thing: positioning yourself in a clearly identifiable realm and acting alongside its actors. With every exploration, I realized the importance of situating my practice within a specific context. While I am still navigating the exact situatedness of my practice in terms of community, I define my design practice within the physical realm – hands-on, interactive and tangible, moving away from the all-consuming digital landscape into a space of sensory anchoring. I choose to situate my work within Barcelona, interacting with a community of moving individuals, nomads and migrants, at sites where exposed Earth provides the raw material for belonging.
