About the project
The consumer society has grown to such a large scale and scope that design as an activity and profession has a decisive impact on ecological systems.
The design process entails critical decisions regarding which materials to extract through methods such as mining, blasting, excavating, or felling, and the quantity involved.
The project “Designing with/out Extractive Materials” (deXmat) will investigate the decision-making process in design and its influence on consumption, tracing its evolution from the second industrial revolution to the present day.
To understand how design influences consumption, we need to look beyond the attractive surface of consumer products and examine what's inside. It is crucial to examine the ecological properties and entanglements of the materials of which it is made.
Objectives
The primary aim of this project is to improve the understanding of how design regulates the consumption of non-renewable materials.
To achieve this goal, the project will redirect attention away from design purely as consumer products and towards viewing designing as a process that involves the consumption of extractive materials.
Moving the analytical gaze to how design regulates the flow of materials from the mine to the mall provides us with an entirely new prism for understanding how design shapes consumption. It also enables us to assess its ecological impact.
Furthermore, the project aims to trace the historical path of this connection and its underlying ideology.
Cooperation
Duration
From 01.04.2024 to 31.03.2028.
Financing
Funded by The Research Council of Norway, Researcher Project for Scientific Renewal, NFR 343173.