“Remember how easy it is to write a version of history—a kind of fiction—that reproduces someone’s blind spots, and then, through repetition, becomes fact. Remember how easy it is to listen to the singular voices, the simple stories–one woman’s voice. […] Remember how easy it is to not hear the words of choirs and masses, because they speak over and through each other. Annoying, too loud, too messy.” (Sara Kaaman, 2020)
Stories of mostly male ‘geniuses,’ alone in their quiet little rooms creating great works, shape our design canon and our idea of how design is created. However, the reality is much more complex and difficult to tell and portray. The students on this course explore alternative historical and contemporary design histories, uncovering a polyphonic chorus of networks, collectives, and individuals. Their research results in critical publications with a feminist-intersectional perspective on forms of representation, gender roles, and working environments.