What is Action?
Session 01–21.09.2020 | Sweet Dreams Are Made of This
Quickly reaching the end of our studies, this course will be sessions of reflections of our past journey through studying Interaction design, and introspection of ourselves, what we’ve become or want to be in the future and the responsibilities it conforms us into.
As humans in part of the ecosystem in this cyclical journey of life, we question the scope of contributions, the consequences and the responsibilities we should hold ourselves accountable for. The class started with 2 questions being brought to light:
- What made an impact on us in the last 2 years?
- What impact you made to others?
To answer the first question, it was hard to pin point everything that had made an impact on me in the last 2 years; as I believe many things or almost everything, big or small, has made an impact and has made me who I am today. This may either be good or bad, but all which in silver-lining are the ideal combination to bring me to this point of growth, understanding and mindfulness.
People — however, are what or whom I find to be the most influential or impactful in the last 2 years. As a ‘foreigner’ living abroad most of my life, I’ve always struggled with identifying who I am, what is home and if I’ll ever find it. Somehow I’ve always put pressure on myself in finding an answer to this, and preying of the sense of belonging. But I realise now that it was merely a pity excuse to put up a guard and restrict myself in the confinement of the ‘foreigner’ bubble. Belittling my voice and my ability to narrate powerfully. Truth is that truly everyone in one way or another are struggling with this too — finding themselves, finding home — and somehow in that I found comfort and reassurance. This was a key lesson people have influenced me to learn. With people comes exchanges of stories, cultures, opinions, discussions, and also experiences. Meeting new and different people is enriching, as it both expands your knowledge of others and also builds knowledge of self-awareness. It also made me practice vulnerability, and the more I normalised opening myself up to people, the more I knew about myself… bringing me to find out what my true values in life are. It also made me more comfortable in expressing myself and hopeful of becoming the person I want to be. I found home from and in people, but most importantly, I found home and comfort in myself.
People — for example, has brought me awareness about my environment. They have made me aware of the critical issues in our society and our responsibilities to take action. This experience alone, however, reflected my privilege; the distance I had with the issues. Enough distance and time to have the opportunity to reflect and initiate change or action. Being in this privileged position, it’s crucial to understand the responsibilities of an impact. This brings me to value participatory and interdisciplinary approaches in my work and overall mindset; an answer to the second question. With this ‘newfound’ value, I practice to contribute most particularly in observation, listening to and inclusion of others in all aspects of any project. As a designer I believe our true responsibility is to be mediators. Knowing this, I’ve made it a priority to mediate ideas that include the community in all its diversity in critical discussions and projects leading to social justice.
Prioritising inclusivity helps me manage another value, that is as a designer to be as objective as I can when approaching any form of contributions. Recently I have found myself to value seeing all sides of the story despite my most desperate appeal to empathise to one party in particular. I believe seeing things through an objective lens help contextualise and understand relations. And as I previously proposed, this is a key attribute as a mediator. As a designer. However, I can’t help but reflect once again, whether this silences my own opinions. Will I be able to have my own opinion as a designer? Am I still free to follow my gut feeling when approaching critical issues as a designer? Or am I anchored to only always find the best solution for everyone involved? What is more important in settling a contribution? Personal vocality or supporting vocality of the masses?
‘Contribution’ is another key theme of discussion in this session. How can we contribute? What are the scopes of impacts of these different approaches of contributions? What tools can help bring these contributions to life?
As an example of contributions and the reach of their impact, we reflect on the legacy of the ActUp group (an international, grassroots political group working to end the AIDS pandemic) and their movement. Two movies were recalled in the discussion: ‘How to Survive A Plague’ (Dir. David France, 2012), and ‘120 BPM’ (Dir. Robin Campillo, 2013).
The two films dive into scenes behind ActUp, one in France and the other as a lens in the USA. No matter differences in age, gender, sexuality, profession, etc. activism was shown embracing and uniting in solidarity. Going back, these examples seem to have answered the question of personal vocality in a contribution; in that, we may always be aligned towards a particular subjectivity, and that it is important to vocalise your gut-feeling or opinion always, but also it is important to embrace iterations that reach middle ground with all involved. That is how I see ideal objectivity and key roles that make mediators.
The inner workings of the both branches of the group shows just that; with agility, openness, and inclusivity behind the movement or contributions, their impact strengthened. It was refreshing and important to see what comes with courage and passion, that crucial changes are being acquired through brisk actions. Some other additional noted points:
The inner workings of the both branches of the group shows just that; with agility, openness, and inclusivity behind the movement or contributions, their impact strengthened. It was refreshing and important to see what comes with courage and passion, that crucial changes are being acquired through brisk actions. Some other additional noted points:
- Discussions of strategies are unapologetically chaotic and raw. How to assign roles and manage engagement through different levels of interventions and/or contributions?
- What tools suits best in supporting moments of urgency?
- The importance of community and how to maintain engagement. Especially in political awareness.
- Who to take or make accountable? A dilemma of targeting institutions instead of the public opinion, and mindfulness of their shift in responsibility towards the general public.
