beyond individual knowledge creation
Unequal power dynamics in structures of knowledge creation and sharing often lead to suppression or erasure of identities. In a spontaneously recorded conversation, projektado collective embarks on these discussions through the perspective of a group that adopts individual anonymity both as a statement, against the increasing focus on individuals and outcomes at the expense of contexts and processes; and as a method, enabling a kind of collaborative work held by trust, companionship, responsibility, and care.
produced by projektado collective for APRIA Journal in 2022
part of Ways of Knowing
identity / collectivity / design education / anonymity / knowledge creation
2022
part of Ways of Knowing
identity / collectivity / design education / anonymity / knowledge creation
In the current panorama of critical debate in the field of creative practices, we see an increasing discussion on the importance of diversifying the actors involved in processes of knowledge creation and sharing. It is frequently pointed out that unexamined assumptions that dominate mainstream knowledge practices in educational, professional, and leisure settings are far deeper and more extensive than they ostensibly seem. Such efforts usually take the form of extending attention to a broader range of identities and underrepresented expertise in mainstream institutions. However, these discussions often fail to connect identity awareness with the practical requirements of building genuine collective practices, leading to a deeper entrenchment of what we consider to be the norm: excessive individualisation of knowledge production and neglect of the procedural, collaborative, and continuous aspects of the work.
Under such circumstances, there is a need for open and collective conversations on how to bring people to work together and to recognise the undervalued aspects of their environments that contribute to their production of knowledge and culturally significant discourses.
In this piece, a few members of projektado collective attempt to open one of these conversations by questioning and reflecting on the inner workings and principles behind their collective work, as well as their focus on the debate on identity, authorship, and ownership in knowledge creation and sharing. We hope to offer critical perspectives on how we can construct better ways of knowing about and by design.
projektado (a design collective with members from Asia, Europe, Latin America, and Oceania, as well as several fields of creative practice including architecture, industrial design, and urban planning) embarks on these discussions through the perspective of a collective that adopts individual anonymity both as a statement and as a methodology. As a statement, we intend to incite reflections and critiques on the glorification of individual production and the hyper-focus on outcome in design practice, research, and education. As a methodology, we allow the exploration of collaborative and continuous work through the development of trust, companionship, responsibility, and care.
Through an informal, unscripted, and unmoderated discussion, this audio piece invites the participants to reflect on their past projects and research, on their identity, and methodology. They touch on the importance of striking a balance between anonymising and labelling, and on the widespread neglection of collaborative aspects in research and knowledge production practices. They discuss the underappreciation of group dynamics and project environments, and the tendency of individual glorification to disrupt collaborative processes. They also reflect on the overemphasis in the design field on content and outcome at the expense of the process, imagining new ways to educate ourselves to shift this focus.