Design can be described as a matter of designing objects and systems that help us organize our lives. But while this same design promises to ease everyday life, it often does not, and sometimes (intentionally or unintentionally) makes it even harder. The main reason for this is the pervasive complexity of the ecosystems in which design is operating and where conflicting economic, ecological, political or social interests are often mixed.
Is there a design that does not design for the user, but for people, actively considering the overall ecosystem of the emergence and application of a product? We will try to answer this question in this year’s thematic framework of the festival, in which we will look at design practice from an ethical perspective.
The relationship between design and ethics can be observed in several ways. For example, mapping problems that design recognizes and tries to solve, as well as the methodology and processes that they use. Also, through design as a dissident and critical practice, which opens ethical issues related to the ways we develop and apply technology. But perhaps the most complex – reflecting on the holistic ways in which the design can create sustainable, socially responsible and ethically acceptable technological products, as well as their processes of creation.
Through the discursive, exhibition and educational program, we aim to stimulate dialogue not only on the ways in which we shape and use everyday subjects but also to expose their layers, meanings and policies, and to present different examples of socially responsible and emancipatory processes of material world creation.
It is known that a collective moral compass, as well as a generally accepted ethical value, does not exist – they must be exploited by the common efforts of members of a particular society. As designers whose business is solving problems to improve the quality of life of people and the well-being of society in general, we are actively participating in these efforts on a daily basis, making design practice inherently ethical. Thus, every product that we design has inherent social, ecological, economic and political values that are reflected in the process itself, but also in its consumption or use.
