by Gabrielle Kennedy
Can we transform consumption from a passive behaviour into a violent act of creation?
Design is an essential mechanism to generate desire for both the consumer object and the act of consumption itself. Can designers manipulate demand to produce alternative perspectives on consumption?
In this symposium, Consuming the Social, we position design as the inherently political creation of possible futures. We will investigate how consumption designs our environment and discuss how to balance the ethical urgency of our social contract with our affinity for playful invention and interaction. Our guests will co-create the event alongside experts in the field of consumption, feeding debate and provoking reactions. Using space as a stage to express opinions, we will not simply consume but actively produce and exchange information.
The invited speakers come from different fields, and they all approach the topic of consumption in the context of Social Design from their perspective. Frank Trentmann will talk about the history of consumption, Alastair Fuad-Luke will look to explore design activism, Jen Conway and Jessy Young will comment of how design can bridge the gender gap and Marco Petroni and Martina Muzi will talk about the multidisciplinary practice of design.
The symposium will take place on the 12th May in the Design Academy Eindhoven in Witte Dame Zaal. It will be broken up into two parts: In the morning part (09h30-13h30) the guests will be part of small discussions alongside various experts. The number of participants is limited for this part, so don’t forget to register. The afternoon part (13h30-17h30) is open to the public and will contain several short talks and presentations.
For more information, please visit www.consumingthesocial.com or visit our Facebook event: Symposium Consuming the Social. You can register for the morning session here.