Everyday Acts of Design: Learning in a Time of Emergency

During a crisis from 2016 to 2018, the State University of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil faced a financial crisis. The design school responded by promoting radical teaching experiments that embraced hope as a method. The case histories in the book offer alternatives to conventional design teaching and demonstrate that education can be a site for democracy and the practice of freedom. The authors argue for the value of a design attitude that refuses to be limited by forethought and insists on a radical, experimental practice as a means of survival. The book adopts a partiality of historical and cultural truths as a counter-attack to the contemporary attack on free public education. It also connects and compares the story of the design school with similar movements in the Global South.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 272 pages
Publication date: 20 October 2022
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

From 2016 to 2018, a crisis engulfed the State University of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, impacting teachers and students alike. A newly elected right-wing government took drastic measures, suspending staff salaries and student scholarships, and cutting funding for essential maintenance. In the face of this adversity, the university's design school responded with a series of radical teaching experiments.

Everyday Acts of Design, a captivating book, narrates the inspiring story of how the design school reacted to the crisis. Instead of succumbing to despair or hopelessness, the school embraced hope as a guiding principle. Students, alumni, teachers, and staff came together, united in their belief that positive solutions could be found even in the face of imminent collapse.

The case histories presented in the book offer alternative approaches to traditional design teaching, showcasing the power of education as a platform for democracy and the exercise of freedom. Despite being deprived of the opportunity to create for an imagined future, design found a way forward through practices of making and experimenting. The authors, drawing on their personal experiences of designing and teaching design during a time of crisis, assert the value of a design attitude that refuses to be bound by preconceived notions of design. Instead, it advocates for a radical, experimental practice as a means of survival.

While the text encompasses a diverse range of voices, both in agreement and dissent, the authors remain transparent about their own position. They make it clear that their stories do not represent a balanced mosaic of polyphonic positions. In the context of the contemporary attack on free public education, fueled by the rise of far-right regimes worldwide, this book adopts a partiality of historical and cultural truths as an urgent and explicit counter-attack.

Everyday Acts of Design serves as a testament to the resilience and creativity of the human spirit. It reminds us that in times of crisis, it is our ability to adapt, innovate, and embrace hope that can lead us to new possibilities and a brighter future. The university's design school's response to the crisis not only showcased the power of education but also demonstrated the potential for design to be a force for positive change in the world.

Weight: 414g
Dimension: 131 x 197 x 19 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781350162396