Cornelia Lund (2015): „If the Future Is Software-defined, What To Do with Our Hands?“

Author: Cornelia Lund
Full Title: If the Future Is Software-defined, What To Do with Our Hands? Post-digital Commons and the Unintended from a Design Perspective
Published: August 2015
Language: English
Pages: 15

Citation: Lund, Cornelia (2015): „If the Future Is Software-defined, What To Do with Our Hands? Post-digital Commons and the Unintended from a Design Perspective.“ Kulle, Daniel/Lund, Cornelia/Schmidt, Oliver/Ziegenhagen, David (eds.): Post-digital Culture, http://www.post-digital-culture.org/clund.

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Abstract

Coined by composer Kim Cascone in 2000, the concept of the post-digital made its way into the field of design some years later, where it has been controversially discussed ever since. This article analyzes different approaches to the post-digital in design, reaching from the rather pragmatic and somewhat uncritical use of the concept in consulting and marketing to more experimental approaches deploying the concept to critically reflect on the role of design in contemporary society. An investigation of the role of the hand, taking up ideas of Sennett and Flusser, leads to a deeper understanding of design under post-digital conditions, while works by Brave New Alps and Rasmus Fleischer’s “Post-Digital Manifesto” help to explore the growing interest in shared spaces and resources and their political implications. By discussing these questions against the backdrop of the general debate over the post-digital, the article also hopes to contribute to further developments of the concept.

About the Author

Cornelia Lund is a design and media theorist and curator living in Berlin. Since 2004, she is co-director of fluctuating images, a platform for media art and design, since 2009 member of General Public, Berlin. In fall/winter 2011/2012 she was visiting professor for “Culture.Aesthetic.Media” at the University of Applied Sciences in Düsseldorf. Currently, she is research fellow in a DFG research project on German documentary film at the University of Hamburg. Lecturer for design theory at various universities, such as University of Applied Sciences Vorarlberg, University of Applied Sciences Hamburg. Cornelia is co-editor, together with Holger Lund, of Audio.Visual – On Visual Music and Related Media (2009) and of Design der Zukunft (2014). Her work as a curator includes numerous screenings and exhibitions (e.g. Mapping Festival Geneva, Academy of the Arts Berlin, Index Festival New York, Hamburger Architektursommer).