Made in China, Designed in California, Criticised in Europe: Design Manifesto

Description

When everything is destined to be designed, design disappears into the everyday. We simply do not see it anymore because it is everywhere. This is the vanishing act of design. At this moment, design registers its redundancy: our products, environments and services have been comprehensively improved. Everything has been designed to perfection and is under a permanent upgrade regime. Within such a paradigm, design is taken over by the capitalist logic of reproduction. But this does not come without conflicts, struggles and tensions. The most obvious of these, is that design is constantly being replaced. Our dispense culture prompts a yearning for longevity. The compulsion to delete brings alive a desire to retrieve objects, ideas and experiences that refuse to become obsolete. Society is growing more aware of sustainability and alert to the depletion of this world. For the ambitious designer, it is time to take the next step: designing the future with a more holistic consideration and approach. The book is a critical look at the design world with its various design disciplines and how these have developed in the past 10 years. 'Made in China, Designed in California, Criticised in Europe' is for professional designers that care about design, the environment and how we live.

Geert Lovink (Author) Geert Lovink is a media theorist, internet critic and author of Networks Without a Cause (2012) and Sad by Design (2019). Since 2004 he is researcher at the School for Communication and Media Design at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (HvA), where he is the founding director of the Institute of Network Cultures. Mieke Gerritzen (Author) Currently working as creative lead for Next Nature, Mieke Gerritzen is a designer, producer, and administrator. Until 2017 she was the Director of Museum of the Image, MOTI in Breda. She then founded the Image Society. She initiates and organizes debates, exhibitions, and events with designers, artists, and authors about image culture, design and new media. She has more than 10 books to her name.