PRIMER19 Workshop by Pierre Shaw & Kishan San: Platforms and Their Protagon...
Event Information
Description
Join us for PRIMER19 Workshops Saturday, June 15, 2019!
All PRIMER19 workshops are open to the public as an extension of the PRIMER19 Conference programming occurring at Parsons, The New School on June 13-14, 2019*.
This year's PRIMER conference theme, FUTURES FOR ALL, highlights the wisdom and power of creating diverse spaces for interrogating the 'inevitable'. We intend to bring together participants from across industries and academia to share ideas, methods and projects that examine the reciprocal relationship between design, the world we live in, and the futures we want.
Workshop Info
Title: Platforms and Their Protagonists
Presenters: Pierre Shaw & Kishan San
Pierre Shaw; Co-Founder at School of Speculation & Architectural Assistant at Haworth Tompkins
Pierre Shaw obtained his BA Architecture at the University of Sheffield, UK where he was nominated for the RIBA Bronze Medal in architecture. Continuing his study in MA Architecture at the Royal College of Art his research explored the contemporary challenges faced by the nation-state and the resultant effect on its borders, in a possible future where transnational corporate technological development has had profound consequences upon the nature of collective identity.
In 2017 Pierre co-founded the School of Speculation with Kishan San, a non-for-profit nomadic critical design school with the goal to diversify and broaden the remit of Critical Design in the UK. It hosts short courses, talks and exhibitions advocating speculative and future design thinking.
Pierre has also held a research fellowship at the British Councilas well as publishing academic essays for e-flux and the Institute of Ideas. He is a member of the Future Cities Project helping to run talks and events and is a guest critic at the École Supérieure d’Architecture de Belleville, Paris. He was named as ‘One to watch’ by Blueprint Magazine in 2018. Pierre works alongside Kishan as architectural assistants at RIBA Stirling Prize winning Haworth Tompkins, London.
Kishan San; Co-Founder at School of Speculation & Architectural Assistant at Haworth Tompkins
As a Londoner of Indo-Chinese descent, Kishan’s work investigates fluctuating notions of identity in an increasingly unstable, globalised and cosmopolitan world society.
He is currently studying at the Architectural Association and his work examines the liquefaction of citizenship and its possible architectural consequences.
Kishan has published under RIBA Journal and the Architectural Review Folio Blog.
Workshop Overview
The School of Speculation (SOS) proposes an interactive, structured, fast paced, (run) through their narrative design methodology. Creative and fun and designed around table discussions, individual creative writing and collage tasks, our workshop is based on the future of digital platforms.
We are all aware of the physical manifestation and vast energy consumption of the internet, revealed through the data centre; a windowless hum of silicone and copper constructed in semi-urban environments. But what evidence is there of the digital platforms that rely on this superstructure?
Data-hungry tech giants incite the growth of an unseen technological social production. In an age of accelerated computational reliance, digital platforms have pervaded our homes and workplaces, controlling what we consume and when in the pursuit of capital.
Networks of information carry with them the threads of social and financial contracts revealing a new kind of high-speed international, or ‘extra’-national, politics. We are entering a world in which the digital architectures of efficiency, data yielded averages and algorithmic determinism are producing a machine centred and global minded morality.
The School of Speculation (SOS) will guide participants through an exciting world-building exercise in which we will analyse some of the most successful digital platforms operations before speculating on a near future and it’s altered social and political environment. We will fill our future worlds with the objects and media that make it a critical comment on the workshops findings.
The workshop will consist of activity based exercises that walk people through the SOS critical design methodology. Their intense workshop makes for an exciting day of future thinking around one of the most contemporary subject areas. The workshop is designed to be politically charged, provoking debate and critical thinking whilst being fast-paced enough to remain light-touch and fun for all participants.
Key Workshop Takeaways
-
An expanded understanding of the workshop’s subject area, Digital Platforms; how they work, who they work for, their financial models and organisational structures
-
An appreciation of the narrative threads that create imaginative, relatable and critical design
-
A developed use of creative writing and visual representation; attendees will be considering their language and image thinking under a fast paced environment.
Special Notes
-
PRIMER19 workshops are scheduled for A.M. and P.M. While this workshop is currently scheduled for the A.M. time slot, the final starting time may vary depending on scheduling needs. Workshop ticket holders will be notified accordingly.
-
Attendees who purchase a PRIMER19 conference ticket receive a discount off of all PRIMER19 related workshops. Please check your confirmation email or contact theprimerconference@gmail.com for discount-related questions or problems.
-
Student Tickers are available to purchase for individuals who (a) purchase using their official .edu email address AND (b) show a valid, current student ID/verification when checking into the conference and workshop.
-
If you want to attend the PRIMER19 conference or affiliated workshops but are experiencing economic hardship, please visit the extenuating circumstances page on our website and we'd be happy to work with you!
Other PRIMER19 Workshops:
PRIMER19 Workshop by Andrés Valencia The Future is Human: A Toolkit for Progress
PRIMER19 Workshop by Frank Spencer: Wicked Opportunities: Innovation Through Foresight
PRIMER19 Workshop by Pierre Shaw & Kishan San: Platforms and Their Protagonists
PRIMER19 Workshop by Chirryl-Lee Ryan: Impact The World Isn't Ready For
PRIMER19 Workshop by Grace Turtle & Andreu Belsunces: Automated Control Wars
*What is PRIMER?
PRIMER conference was created to prepare you for the future and to equip you to help shape it. It is the annual conference (in the US and Europe) produced by the Design Futures Initiative, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit based in San Francisco, CA and the annual gathering for the Speculative Futures community with 20 (and growing) chapters worldwide.
We welcome anyone to join us! Conference attendees (and localized MeetUp members) span a wide array of designers, artists, technologists, makers, students, and organizations whose work focuses on questioning and rethinking our technologies, products, and systems, or proposes alternative narratives and future worlds.
Stay connected! For more information and updates, join our mailing list and follow us on social media.
