Critical Experiences

Readings

Here you can find a selection of readings (texts, videos, other materials) and companion questions meant to frame core concepts helpful for developing critical experiences. Each reading is associated with at least one module – feel free to browse the modules pages to see the readings grouped by concept!

  • An Audubon in Sound

    An Audubon in Sound

    Matthew Gurewitsch

    Description
    An article about the French composer Olivier Messaien, who not only transposed bird song into modern classical music (a metaphoric act), but these compositions were also metaphors for his deeply  spiritual beliefs.
    Related Modules: Metaphor
  • Art as Experience

    Art as Experience

    John Dewey

    Description
    John Dewey (1859-1952) was a 20th century philosopher, who called for a radical democratic reorganization of education and society. His work in this book seeks to unify art and daily experience.
    Related Modules: Experience
  • Cheat Sheet for a Non- (or Less-) Colonialist Speculative Design

    Cheat Sheet for a Non- (or Less-) Colonialist Speculative Design

    Pedro Oliveira and Luiza Prado

    Description
    An essay on conscious, equitable design practices in the fields of speculation.
    Related Modules: Speculation
  • Critical Design FAQ

    Critical Design FAQ

    Dunne and Raby

    Description
    Collaborators Dunne and Raby are considered the originators of the term “Critical Design” and this is their FAQ outlining key distinctions between design (as a service) and critical design (as a practice).
    Related Modules: Speculation
  • Design Fiction

    Design Fiction

    Julian Bleecker

    Description
    The author’s term “Design Fiction” (originally coined by Bruce Sterling)explores and critiques possible futures by creating speculative and often provocative scenarios that are embodied in designed (and often) technological objects.
    Related Modules: Speculation
  • Design Noir, The Secret Life of Electronic Objects

    Design Noir, The Secret Life of Electronic Objects

    Dunne and Raby

    Description
    A speculative book about the physical and cultural effects of the digital domain, demonstrating that mobile phones, computers and other electronic objects such as televisions profoundly influence people’s experience of their environment.
    Related Modules: Research, Speculation
  • Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds

    Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds

    adrienne maree brown

    Related Modules: Systems, Worlds
  • Envisioning a Sustainable World

    Envisioning a Sustainable World

    Donella Meadows

    Description
    A talk by a key systems thinker on the power of imagining change, and applying systemic tools to structure that “visioning.”

    See also her books Limits to Growth and  Thinking in Systems.
    Related Modules: Speculation, Systems

  • Food as Metaphor

    Encyclopedia.com

    Description
    An article outlining some of the ways in which food itself is a metaphor.
    Related Modules: Metaphor
  • Ideas Arrangements Effects: Systems Design and Social Justice

    Ideas Arrangements Effects: Systems Design and Social Justice

    Ayako Maruyama, Kenneth Bailey, and Lori Lobenstine

    Related Modules: Systems