Future Talks¶
Designing from within your context¶
Contents¶
During our conference, we were taken on a tour of Hospitalet, where we explored various artistic and design communities. We also gained insights into the city’s culture and its lesser-known aspects. It was fascinating to learn about Hospitalet’s cultural concept as a highly communal city where residents support each other and keep certain spaces secret to prevent rent hikes within the community.
Additionally, Saúl shared his projects with us, showcasing his work at Does Work and Maybe Asap. He also presented his magazine and advertising campaign, providing insight into his projects related to technology and identity. Beyond the projects themselves, Saúl’s ethical approach to magazine ownership and his innovative marketing strategies, including TikTok campaigns, left a lasting impression on us.
Reflections¶
Reflection on the Talk¶
Personally, I found the conference with Saúl fascinating both on a personal and professional level. On one hand, I was introduced to a tour of Hospitalet, a city I’ve always visited without questioning its cultural or structural aspects. Therefore, seeing this perspective of Hospitalet was very interesting for me. On the other hand, Saúl’s presentation of his projects and his way of viewing and communicating things intrigued me, as his research topic is very similar to mine. Ultimately, Saúl explores identity in technology and how to safeguard our privacy by hacking technology to protect our biometric data. I found his approach of exploring things freely while prioritizing our privacy very compelling. I appreciated that he had clear ideas because specifying my master’s thesis topic has been challenging for me. Saúl managed to take a specific topic, such as biometrics, analyze it, and expand it in different aspects. His way of arguing and communicating complex topics was very interesting to me. He didn’t impose his ideas on us; instead, he simply explained them, allowing us to form our own opinions. I found his artistic and creative way of expressing complex projects inspiring, and he provided many insights into managing one’s own projects, including the lessons learned from mistakes. I’ve been researching and observing his work for a long time, so finally meeting him felt like meeting a very interesting, honest person who is eager to help. Therefore, I look forward to further exploring this path and continuing to communicate with him to expand my knowledge and my way of expressing myself in my thesis on the connection between identity, social networks, mental health, and technology.
Reflection on my thesis¶
The reflection I’ve drawn from Saúl is that I essentially need to find my theme to explore this concept of identity and technology. Among all the aspects of identity that one can measure, Saúl has chosen the concept of biometrics and has been trying to create a language that technology can understand about ourselves and our identity. I believe my thesis topic relates to this, but I need to pinpoint this concept to explore. For me, I’ve always been interested in mental health, but I find this battle against data and surveillance capitalism, trying to safeguard our data and identity from being sold, much more intriguing than having our mental health tech. Therefore, perhaps from this conversation, instead of constantly trying to generate mental health technologies and products, I might want to step back and first explore how this technology can understand us better, and then, likely, explore creating products for mental health. Obviously, I need to figure out how this technology can understand me and what element I want the technology to grasp. Saúl has explored the concept of biometrics, but there are many more things about us that define us and that technology could read, such as the photos on our phones, our chats, our movements, our ethnicity, the music we like, among many other things, and these are data that are still being sold to different companies, so it’s also interesting to explore how to use this data to understand a person without exploiting or selling it.
For More Than Human-Centered Worlds¶
Contents¶
In Helen Torres’s class, we delved into the concept of the Anthropocene, where she challenged the notion that humanity itself is the problem, instead pinpointing “man” as individuals as the source of issues. She emphasized the importance of acknowledging symbiotic relationships and symbiogenesis, highlighting the intertwined nature of organisms and the necessity of collaboration rather than competition in the current era. Through the lens of sympoiesis, she urged us to understand that nothing exists in isolation, advocating for collective knowing and response-ability in navigating complex natural-cultural histories.
Moreover, Torres connected these theoretical discussions to real-world examples, such as the MACBA Expansion Project, where various actors including the museum, politicians, skaters, residents, and animals like seagulls and dogs are involved. By exploring the needs and responsibilities of these diverse stakeholders, she encouraged us to rethink our understanding of space, culture, and identity, emphasizing the importance of inclusive decision-making and engagement with local communities. Through practices like storytelling and curiosity-driven inquiry, Torres challenged us to develop a deeper awareness of our interconnectedness and to actively respond to the challenges we face in today’s world.
Reflections¶
This course was truly intriguing for me, though I found it somewhat challenging to fully grasp. One key takeaway came from Donna Haraway’s perspective, urging us to move away from human-centered thinking and consider a broader perspective that includes learning from other organisms. She highlights the notion that we need to step back from the belief that humans are solely responsible for everything and instead recognize our symbiotic relationship with the world around us. This insight from the FutureTalk has prompted me to rethink my project, suggesting that I may need to explore beyond the confines of human knowledge and embrace a more inclusive approach that considers the perspectives of non-human entities.
Collective urban practice for resilient communities and cities¶
I wasn’t able to attend :/
Understanding your emerging profiles and roles¶
Contents¶
n this FutureTalk, Krzysztof shared his journey of before and after MDEF. He walked us through the early stages of his career, from his initial interests in design to what he’s currently doing with his businesses, and how he’s applied MDEF methodologies to his work and daily life.
Reflections¶
For me, Krzysztof’s insights were quite valuable in understanding what can be done after MDEF. It’s true that Krzysztof already had a more developed work experience before MDEF, and he was able to explain how he has further developed various practices and ethics in his daily life through the Master’s program. This path is certainly an objective for me as well, but I still have much to experience with different practices and to develop as a professional in order to apply these ethics I’ve developed in the master’s program.
What struck me the most about Krzysztof’s experience is that once the master’s program ends, people won’t be waiting for us to graduate and start working. We have to hustle and actively seek out a job that aligns with our interests. It’s a journey that requires patience, and while we may find something with effort, it’s not guaranteed.
Krzysztof has leaned towards a more artistic and service design-oriented path, while I am more interested in a technical and research-focused route. I would like to meet more people who have followed this technical path. Nonetheless, it was a very valuable conversation, and it was great to get to know more people from the master’s program and their professional lives afterward.