The 2024/2025 residents will respond to the theme of ‘Artificial’, questioning the limits of human-centred design in a more-than-human climate crisis.
The history of design is often read through the lens of Anthropocentrism, where products and services are conceived and manufactured to support human flourishing without concern for other species. Yet today we know well that this approach is part of a broader set of planetary crises which find their root in the artificial separation of the 'human' from the 'natural'.
This year’s cohort of design researchers are using their skills to that end: developing research that re-contextualises contemporary issues through collaborative interdisciplinary and interspecies relationships. Studying archives, analysing political systems, waste streams, and co-creating within local communities and ecologies - each project looks to disrupt passive assumptions and imagine futures that de-centralise human needs and re-establish reciprocal narratives.
The 2024/25 Design Researchers in Residence are Christie Swallow, Hani Salih, Laura Lebeau and Neba Sere, their projects will challenge the distinctions between the natural and the artificial by exploring topics that touch on our daily lives.
Christie’s research delves into the urban myths surrounding parakeets, seeking to redefine our perceptions of ‘native’ species. Hani’s work focuses on mapping man-made frameworks for decision-making, to uncover the outdated logic that persists in national planning. Laura will examine the convenience of synthetic materials, prototyping harmless appliances from natural materials and Neba will explore the artificialisation of plants by tracing the routes of colonised ecologies, to reclaim lost knowledge.
This residency will create space for the hugely necessary practices of mutual learning and knowledge sharing by deepening material literacy and collaboration. Researching from the perspective of plants and parakeets, uncovering the impact of decision-making and mass- production, each project looks to question the artificial relationships that govern and underpin our existence.
