The cultural and societal contexts we live in define not only our upbringing and our ideas of norms and socially acceptable behavior, but also how our physical bodies interact with(in) their environments. 

What body is considered „normal“ and „okay“, which bodies make us and others feel comfortable or not, what kind of body is sanctioned or praised etc.

Often enough, it is the gendered and non-normative body that suffers mostly under these norms – when they are mistreated by society or discriminated against. But what can we as designers do about that?

Within this course, we will identify the challenges our or other bodies are facing in their respective social and cultural environments and in an approach of social and critical design try to find ways to tackle those challenges. We will be focusing on intersectional topics in regards to gender, queerness and all the undesirable -isms that discriminate against non-normative bodies to come up with possible design solutions.

Methodological-didactic approach
This course will be held in English, unless there is only German native speakers present. A sufficient level in English therefore is expected.

We will be using ideation techniques and design thinking methods to rapidly generate ideas in as large a quantity as possible, as for the start of the course the credo will be: more is more and no idea is a bad idea. Eventually, we will condense these ideas into working critical and social design concepts that help raise awareness for the chosen topics, create visibility or even offer solutions. We strive to execute those concepts into working designs that will then be presented at the Werkschau.

Our aim is to work interdisciplinary, so that we can approach the issues we identify from various angles and perspectives. Hence, half the places in this course will be open to ERASMUS-students from other areas of expertise than design as well. Teamwork is highly encouraged, and even though we will work visually, this course does not require specific skills in drawing etc. – but a basic understanding conceptualisation and design is expected from all students.

It is anticipated that external guest speakers will give further insights into intersectional topics revolving around gendered and non-normative bodies. Additionally, we want to cooperate closely with Jessica Brown’s course “Exit Racism”.

Itinerary
This course is planned for the duration of one semester, distributed over seven bi-weekly online-meetings. The anticipated starting date is the 9th of April 2021, with regularly scheduled meeting times from 2.30 pm to 6pm every second Friday until the last meeting on the 2nd of July 2021.

Meeting 1 – 9th of April // Meeting 2 – 23rd of April // Meeting 3 – 7th of May // Meeting 4 – 21st of May // Meeting 5 – 4th of June // Meeting 6 – 18th of June // Meeting 7 – 2nd of July

About The Teachers

Sebastian Oft (des. M.A.):
B.A. Integrated Design at Köln International School of Design on the discrimination against sexual fetishes
M.A. Design at FH Potsdam on queer perception of space in Berlin
2016–2019 Senior Designer at yellow too

Anouk Meissner (M.A.):
Dipl. Cultural Work and Master of Arts in Future Studies