Sissel Olander | The Royal Danish Academy Of Fine Arts, Schools Of Architecture, Design And Conservation (original) (raw)

Uploads

Papers by Sissel Olander

Research paper thumbnail of Ethics in Contemporary Civic Engagements: Toward an Ethics of a Minor Design Activism

Research paper thumbnail of Designere med bæredygtige ambitioner

Research paper thumbnail of Imagining critical practises in practise based design research: What is your ‘critical’ approach?

Research paper thumbnail of Design Anthropology as Ontological Exploration and Inter-Species Engagement

Design Anthropological Futures, 2020

In this chapter, we discuss the potential for a design anthropology that, while firmly grounded i... more In this chapter, we discuss the potential for a design anthropology that, while firmly grounded in a material-experimental practice, is also informed by, and explorative of, those ideas in contemporary anthropology that are related to what is commonly referred to as the ontological turn. To detail this argument, we stage a discussion around an experimental design project carried out by one of the authors in which speculative prototypes were deployed at a care home in the Danish city of Elsinore. The purpose of this deployment was to experiment with, and possibly enable, new kinds of inter-species relations, in this case between the senior citizens of the care home and the wild birds in the surrounding area. The objective – to build and explore inter-species relations – along with the character and style of the experiment described here may seem foreign to the primarily human-centred field of design anthropology. However, a central concern in design anthropology is simultaneously to understand and reconfigure the very collectives that humans are continually both being formed by and giving form to. In this chapter we will show that material-speculative approaches that address non-humans are capable of generating questions-not-yet-posed that have relevance for contemporary design anthropology – questions that may expand the scope of this transdisciplinary field to such an extent that we may focus not only on the human capacity for change, but also on the capacity of others, including non-humans, to perform and configure both humans and the collectives of which humans form a part in ways that we are perhaps not yet capable of imagining. We begin by briefly mapping some of the current positions in design anthropology in order to situate our approach in relation to them. This is followed by a condensed account of how we understand and are interested in the so-called ontological turn in anthropology. That will lead us to a presentation and analysis of the experimental project, which will fuel a discussion of the differences involved in attending ethnographically or experimentally to a series of other-than-human encounters.

Research paper thumbnail of Designere med bæredygtige ambitioner

Research paper thumbnail of Ethics in Contemporary Civic Engagements: Toward an Ethics of a Minor Design Activism

Research paper thumbnail of Strategic design research: Co-designing organizational transformation from within

Artifact

In this article, we discuss and argue for the value of working with strategic design in organizat... more In this article, we discuss and argue for the value of working with strategic design in organizational settings through inventive research practices rooted in co-design and design anthropology. More specifically, we propose a process of collaborative experimentation staged as a series of events that establish relations between everyday organizational perspectives and practices and organizational strategic documents. We base our analytical discussions and reflections on a research project carried out in the organizational setting of a labour union. We describe how a programme–experiment informed design research approach, driven by and reliant on collaborative explorations, provides a scaffold for unlocking organizational strategic management visions and goals in interaction with transformational perspectives on organizational practices. We frame our approach as a research strategy of working ‘from within’ the organizational setting, which focuses on staging dialogues between the expe...

Research paper thumbnail of Minor Design Activism: Prompting Change fro Within

Research paper thumbnail of Texts as events – or how to account for descriptions as intervention

Research paper thumbnail of Post-critical potentials in experimental co-design

This paper focuses on the idea of post-criticality, and hinges on a critique of critique as devel... more This paper focuses on the idea of post-criticality, and hinges on a critique of critique as developed by science scholar Bruno Latour. The paper explores the post- critical as some thing or some constellation, which may exceed from experimental and collaborative co-design events. Through a recounting of a co-design experiment, the paper seeks to characterize the post-critical as a situated and collaborative experimental possibility that may take many different non-descriptive forms. Drawing on the work of Philosopher of Science Hans-Jörg Rheinberger and science scholar Nortje Marres, the paper reflects on the difference between experimental reasoning and empirical analysis. In so doing, the paper seeks to open a discussion on how experimental and collaborative design research and analytical movements like science and technology studies and actor network theory may cross-fertilize one another

Research paper thumbnail of Living the (co-design) Lab

Design research environments are becoming visible in many places, in universities, in design scho... more Design research environments are becoming visible in many places, in universities, in design schools, in companies and in public organizations.

Research paper thumbnail of Building the Design Laboratory in a Public Cultural Organisation

Nordes, 2011

This paper presents the research objectives of a design research Ph.D project in the Municipality... more This paper presents the research objectives of a design research Ph.D project in the Municipality of Copenhagen. The aim of the project is to explore and develop an open platform of participatory inquiry and dialogue, within the organizational setting of three local cultural administration units (LCAU), consisting of public libraries and cultural centers at three different local sites in Copenhagen.

Research paper thumbnail of Living the (co-design) Lab

Proc. of NORDIC Design …, 2011

Design research environments are becoming visible in many places, in universities, in design scho... more Design research environments are becoming visible in many places, in universities, in design schools, in companies and in public organizations.

Research paper thumbnail of Mobilizing for community building and everyday innovation

interactions, 2011

This paper presents and discusses two co-design projects that deal with societal issues of commun... more This paper presents and discusses two co-design projects that deal with societal issues of community building and everyday innovation in the municipality of Copenhagen. The research projects explore a collection of designerly approaches, here referred to as a design laboratory. The general aim is to establish an open platform, or infrastructure, for community building and everyday innovation. We argue that a key constituent of this approach is to engage stakeholders and participants in mutual mobilization around issues of collective concern. We conclude the paper by discussing the implications of this approach as an intentional strategy of democratization.

Book chapters by Sissel Olander

Research paper thumbnail of Design Anthropology as Ontological Exploration and Inter-Species Engagement

In this chapter, we discuss the potential for a design anthropology that, while firmly grounded i... more In this chapter, we discuss the potential for a design anthropology that, while firmly grounded in a material-experimental practice, is also informed by, and explorative
of, those ideas in contemporary anthropology that are related to what is commonly referred to as the ontological turn. To detail this argument, we stage a discussion around an experimental design project carried out by one of the authors in which speculative prototypes were deployed at a care home in the Danish city of Elsinore. The purpose of this deployment was to experiment with, and possibly enable, new kinds of inter-species relations, in this case between the senior citizens of the care home and the wild
birds in the surrounding area. The objective – to build and explore inter-species relations – along with the character and style of the experiment described here may seem foreign to the primarily human-centred field of design anthropology. However, a central concern in design anthropology is simultaneously to understand and
reconfigure the very collectives that humans are continually both being formed by and giving form to. In this chapter we will show that material-speculative approaches that address non-humans are capable of generating questions-not-yet-posed that have relevance for contemporary design anthropology – questions that may expand the scope of this transdisciplinary field to such an extent that we may focus not only on the human capacity for change, but also on the capacity of others, including non-humans, to perform and configure both humans and the collectives of which humans form a part in ways that we are perhaps not yet capable of imagining. We begin by briefly mapping some of the current positions in design anthropology in order to situate our approach in relation to them. This is followed by a condensed account of how we understand and are interested in the so-called ontological turn in anthropology. That will lead us to a presentation and analysis of the experimental project, which will fuel a discussion of the differences involved in attending ethnographically or experimentally to a series of other-than-human encounters.

Research paper thumbnail of Ethics in Contemporary Civic Engagements: Toward an Ethics of a Minor Design Activism

Research paper thumbnail of Designere med bæredygtige ambitioner

Research paper thumbnail of Imagining critical practises in practise based design research: What is your ‘critical’ approach?

Research paper thumbnail of Design Anthropology as Ontological Exploration and Inter-Species Engagement

Design Anthropological Futures, 2020

In this chapter, we discuss the potential for a design anthropology that, while firmly grounded i... more In this chapter, we discuss the potential for a design anthropology that, while firmly grounded in a material-experimental practice, is also informed by, and explorative of, those ideas in contemporary anthropology that are related to what is commonly referred to as the ontological turn. To detail this argument, we stage a discussion around an experimental design project carried out by one of the authors in which speculative prototypes were deployed at a care home in the Danish city of Elsinore. The purpose of this deployment was to experiment with, and possibly enable, new kinds of inter-species relations, in this case between the senior citizens of the care home and the wild birds in the surrounding area. The objective – to build and explore inter-species relations – along with the character and style of the experiment described here may seem foreign to the primarily human-centred field of design anthropology. However, a central concern in design anthropology is simultaneously to understand and reconfigure the very collectives that humans are continually both being formed by and giving form to. In this chapter we will show that material-speculative approaches that address non-humans are capable of generating questions-not-yet-posed that have relevance for contemporary design anthropology – questions that may expand the scope of this transdisciplinary field to such an extent that we may focus not only on the human capacity for change, but also on the capacity of others, including non-humans, to perform and configure both humans and the collectives of which humans form a part in ways that we are perhaps not yet capable of imagining. We begin by briefly mapping some of the current positions in design anthropology in order to situate our approach in relation to them. This is followed by a condensed account of how we understand and are interested in the so-called ontological turn in anthropology. That will lead us to a presentation and analysis of the experimental project, which will fuel a discussion of the differences involved in attending ethnographically or experimentally to a series of other-than-human encounters.

Research paper thumbnail of Designere med bæredygtige ambitioner

Research paper thumbnail of Ethics in Contemporary Civic Engagements: Toward an Ethics of a Minor Design Activism

Research paper thumbnail of Strategic design research: Co-designing organizational transformation from within

Artifact

In this article, we discuss and argue for the value of working with strategic design in organizat... more In this article, we discuss and argue for the value of working with strategic design in organizational settings through inventive research practices rooted in co-design and design anthropology. More specifically, we propose a process of collaborative experimentation staged as a series of events that establish relations between everyday organizational perspectives and practices and organizational strategic documents. We base our analytical discussions and reflections on a research project carried out in the organizational setting of a labour union. We describe how a programme–experiment informed design research approach, driven by and reliant on collaborative explorations, provides a scaffold for unlocking organizational strategic management visions and goals in interaction with transformational perspectives on organizational practices. We frame our approach as a research strategy of working ‘from within’ the organizational setting, which focuses on staging dialogues between the expe...

Research paper thumbnail of Minor Design Activism: Prompting Change fro Within

Research paper thumbnail of Texts as events – or how to account for descriptions as intervention

Research paper thumbnail of Post-critical potentials in experimental co-design

This paper focuses on the idea of post-criticality, and hinges on a critique of critique as devel... more This paper focuses on the idea of post-criticality, and hinges on a critique of critique as developed by science scholar Bruno Latour. The paper explores the post- critical as some thing or some constellation, which may exceed from experimental and collaborative co-design events. Through a recounting of a co-design experiment, the paper seeks to characterize the post-critical as a situated and collaborative experimental possibility that may take many different non-descriptive forms. Drawing on the work of Philosopher of Science Hans-Jörg Rheinberger and science scholar Nortje Marres, the paper reflects on the difference between experimental reasoning and empirical analysis. In so doing, the paper seeks to open a discussion on how experimental and collaborative design research and analytical movements like science and technology studies and actor network theory may cross-fertilize one another

Research paper thumbnail of Living the (co-design) Lab

Design research environments are becoming visible in many places, in universities, in design scho... more Design research environments are becoming visible in many places, in universities, in design schools, in companies and in public organizations.

Research paper thumbnail of Building the Design Laboratory in a Public Cultural Organisation

Nordes, 2011

This paper presents the research objectives of a design research Ph.D project in the Municipality... more This paper presents the research objectives of a design research Ph.D project in the Municipality of Copenhagen. The aim of the project is to explore and develop an open platform of participatory inquiry and dialogue, within the organizational setting of three local cultural administration units (LCAU), consisting of public libraries and cultural centers at three different local sites in Copenhagen.

Research paper thumbnail of Living the (co-design) Lab

Proc. of NORDIC Design …, 2011

Design research environments are becoming visible in many places, in universities, in design scho... more Design research environments are becoming visible in many places, in universities, in design schools, in companies and in public organizations.

Research paper thumbnail of Mobilizing for community building and everyday innovation

interactions, 2011

This paper presents and discusses two co-design projects that deal with societal issues of commun... more This paper presents and discusses two co-design projects that deal with societal issues of community building and everyday innovation in the municipality of Copenhagen. The research projects explore a collection of designerly approaches, here referred to as a design laboratory. The general aim is to establish an open platform, or infrastructure, for community building and everyday innovation. We argue that a key constituent of this approach is to engage stakeholders and participants in mutual mobilization around issues of collective concern. We conclude the paper by discussing the implications of this approach as an intentional strategy of democratization.

Research paper thumbnail of Design Anthropology as Ontological Exploration and Inter-Species Engagement

In this chapter, we discuss the potential for a design anthropology that, while firmly grounded i... more In this chapter, we discuss the potential for a design anthropology that, while firmly grounded in a material-experimental practice, is also informed by, and explorative
of, those ideas in contemporary anthropology that are related to what is commonly referred to as the ontological turn. To detail this argument, we stage a discussion around an experimental design project carried out by one of the authors in which speculative prototypes were deployed at a care home in the Danish city of Elsinore. The purpose of this deployment was to experiment with, and possibly enable, new kinds of inter-species relations, in this case between the senior citizens of the care home and the wild
birds in the surrounding area. The objective – to build and explore inter-species relations – along with the character and style of the experiment described here may seem foreign to the primarily human-centred field of design anthropology. However, a central concern in design anthropology is simultaneously to understand and
reconfigure the very collectives that humans are continually both being formed by and giving form to. In this chapter we will show that material-speculative approaches that address non-humans are capable of generating questions-not-yet-posed that have relevance for contemporary design anthropology – questions that may expand the scope of this transdisciplinary field to such an extent that we may focus not only on the human capacity for change, but also on the capacity of others, including non-humans, to perform and configure both humans and the collectives of which humans form a part in ways that we are perhaps not yet capable of imagining. We begin by briefly mapping some of the current positions in design anthropology in order to situate our approach in relation to them. This is followed by a condensed account of how we understand and are interested in the so-called ontological turn in anthropology. That will lead us to a presentation and analysis of the experimental project, which will fuel a discussion of the differences involved in attending ethnographically or experimentally to a series of other-than-human encounters.