Abstract
The DESIS Philosophy Talks are an initiative of DESIS Network aiming to nurture the dialogue between design and philosophy. The idea is to match practical issues and topics emerging from design practice in the field of social innovation around the world (for instance, the ones developed within the framework of DESIS Network) with insights from the philosophical tradition. Several notions, such as beauty, public vs. private, community, etc., which normally belong to the field of social sciences appear to emerge from a kind of “phenomenological” study of different cases of design for social innovation. The DESIS Philosophy Talks want to explore them from a philosophical, theoretical perspective and see how the result of these discussions can add meaningful value to the design practice (www.desis-philosophytalks.org) In the past years we have been raising the question whether we can speak of a “sustainable aesthetics” emerging from the “phenomenological” observation of both cases of grassroots social innovation and design for social innovation. The French philosopher Jacques Rancière speaks of the idea of aesthetics as shifting the political paradigm. Can we describe this emerging new paradigm of aesthetics starting from Rancière’s notion of aesthetics? Can we consider “sustainable aesthetics” today as moving the political paradigm towards a more participative and open society? If this is the case, what is the role and responsibility of design in embracing this emerging “sustainable aesthetics”? This paper presents a hypothesis on how such an aesthetics could be considered as a driver of social and behavioural change.
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For instance in the Triennial of Design RECIPROCITY Liège www.reciprocityliege.be/reciprocity-2015-4
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Such as Manzini and Staszowski 2013 and Lee Y. and P. Moore 2015
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See also http://www.desis-philosophytalks.org
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The author raised this question with Ezio Manzini and Victor Margolin back in 2012. The first DESIS Philosophy Talk series, entitled Emerging Qualities featured a first event, entitled Emerging Aesthetics, which took place on March 2nd 2012 at The New School for Design (New York, U.S.A). For this issue, please also see Manzini and Tassinari 2013
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The use of the categories of Rancière’s philosophy in order to interpret the idea of aesthetics/politics emerging from practices of design for social innovation, has first been researched during the seminar the (New) Public Goods: Design, Aesthetics and Politics organised by The New School of Design in New York, in the spring 2013
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He believes that in ancient Greece, art and life used to be connected. Artworks such as the Juno Ludovisi used to embody the vital spirit of a community (Rancière and Corcoran 2010, p.122). This unity between art and life broke with the divisions of the arts, and is reappearing in modernity. The way in which this unity manifests itself in modernity is called aesthetics. According to Rancière, Schiller’s words foresee a time in which art and life will once again be re-connected as it used to be in ancient Greece. This time predicted by Schiller is now.
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Some of these cases have been presented to an international public of design schools around the world in 2014 in the Cumulus conference Design with the other 90% of the world www.cumulusjohannesburg.co.za
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This union of aesthetics and politics was there with the Greeks. In modernity, however, art and life, aesthetics and politics became separated into distinct spheres of thought and action. Politics became the prerogative of an oligarchy whose members takes decisions on behalf of the collective. Active participation of citizens was no longer required. Aesthetics, meanwhile, became the prerogative of art alone, and not also of a generalised art of living as in previous centuries.
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In police an oligarchy of subjects decides which part to have of the common goods and how to use the resources which are supposed to belong to everybody. Yet, to Rancière this is a truthful way to be subjects. This idea of subject is rather a mask for domination. According to him, there are no pre-defined subjects which detect the power juxtaposed to a formless collectivity which does not have a stake in the common sphere and has no right to speak (Rancière and Corcoran 2010, p.32). To become subjects is a process. There is no other way to be subject besides the political one. A political subject - someone who takes his own role and responsibility in the common realm - is the only authentic way to be a subject. One is not a political subject a priori. One can only become a political subject, by excerpting forms of dissensus in the common sphere, which makes possible to question the status quo of police and re-distribute the sensible in an inclusive and equal way.
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Democracy is the specific situation in which it is the absence of entitlement that entitles one to exercise the arkhe. (Rancière and Corcoran 2010, p.31) As nobody is entitled to rule, everybody can do this. Democracy is a limit figure, where one can partake in ruling and in being ruled. (Rancière and Corcoran 2010, p.31)
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For more on this see also Meroni et al. 2013
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For a full explanation of the methodology that was used in the Helsinki Design Lab, please see the book Boyer et al. (2011)
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Such as for instance Elisa Bertolotti, François Jégou and Pablo Calderón Salazar.
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Tassinari, V. (2018). Notes for an Aesthetics of Social Innovation: A Reading Through the Lenses of Jacques Rancière’s Philosophy. In: Vermaas, P., Vial, S. (eds) Advancements in the Philosophy of Design. Design Research Foundations. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73302-9_12
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