DesignLess

June 2009, Vinalhaven, ME

Increasingly, as in the design of games, playgrounds and syllabi, “design” is about creating a set of conditions for something to happen, rather than prescribing what people should do.

Then there are situations when just a tweak, a twist or a re-framing of something that’s already there does a better job than starting from scratch.

A project brief might call for pounds of plastic, paper, ink, metal and fuel, but does the larger situation suggest a more efficient response?

DesignInquiry 2009: ‘Design-Less’ explored a variety of works and approaches to design that share a kind of productive nihilism. Things organized or assembled to create a particular attitude; variations on ‘nothing’ or ‘next to nothing’; the subtraction, obstruction or interference of a language we take for granted.