Designedisposal Manifesto
 
 “Designedisposal is designing from and with plastic things”.
 (KraalD, MRes in Design, Goldsmiths UoL, 2013).

 

 

KraalDesignedisposal is in service to Σοφíα (Sofia). Hence, the Designedisposal Manifesto is dedicated to all Σοφíα creations, including all planetary life organic and inorganic.

• To concisely gaze into new modes of being, as it seems imperative to start fundamentally re-imagining a new way of living, i.e. non-anthropocentric approach.

The KraalD narrative includes the social and material life of plastics. Designedisposal was essential for KraalD’s transformational materiality and social re-imaginary.

Designedisposal stands for all designed things, short-lived as made for disposal.

Designedisposal relates to:

Self and plastic things remake.

New material values.

Design for new habitual and material paradigm/s.

Visioning futures i.e. “Urban Ubuntu” and “New Earth” eutopias.

 

KraalD Publica Privatis:
do-it-yourself (DIY)-privatis mode & do-it-with-others (DIWO)-publica mode.

 

 

The initial transformational intent was to create an action platform that is engaged in the present by plastic reuse tactics and is able to develop and sustain refuse strategies in the futures. The manifesto’s asterism supports KraalD’s shifting views. The astronomy term “asterism” has been introduced to refer to a diverse group of waste spectators with polarised relational connections, e.g. systemic: political, social, economic, cultural, material, ethical and aesthetical.

An asterism is a star pattern made of small stars and recognized by the naked eye in the Earth’s night sky, referring to the traditional figuring of the whole e.g. the Pleiades in astronomy. The asterism is perceived as an unofficial KraalD constellation of many facets, which strives to incorporate: design activism, craft making, exposition, design workshop engagement, positive trash aesthetics and alternative jargon. The moto is to facilitate rather than dictate. To design the platform for initiating critical making, through designedisposal engagement and speculative designtransposal debate.

The KraalD Designedisposal asterism supports multiplicities as:

• a state of entanglement;
• a praxis mindset and professional re-make;
• a right to reuse and refuse;
• a spiritual and material fetishism;
• a metanarrative, visioning;

 

KraalD’s ethical ground is based on the Burns, (2005), “Gross National Happiness” (GNH). “Gross National Happiness is more important than Gross National Product” states King of Bhutan. “Gross National Happiness” (GNH), was commissioned and developed as a sophisticated survey instrument to measure the Nepal population’s general level of wellbeing. In my view, this is a noble attempt to define and indicate what measures the quality of life or social progress in more holistic terms than the economic indicator of “Gross Domestic Product” (GDP).

The primary four pillars of GNH are the core guiding values of KraalD. They are “promotion of sustainable development, preservation of cultural values, conservation of the natural environment, establishment of good governance”. (Burns, 2005, pp.405-431).  The original four pillars have been expanded into nine domains in order to create an in-depth understanding of GNH and to reflect the holistic range of values. The nine domains are: “psychological wellbeing, health, education, time use, cultural diversity and resilience, good governance, community vitality, ecological diversity and resilience, and living standards.”(ibid).
Anti-Political Self Re-make: Like Spartacus rising, my participation in Belgrade’s student protest and civic riots from 1991 to 1999 in former Yugoslavia, now the Republic of Serbia, was persistent.  Milosevic dictatorship was put to an end, nevertheless Serbia today is governed by the same political team which served under Slobodan Milosevic’s rule. Thus, due to the self experiential “seelisch”, I have turned to an anti-political state of mind. In other words, this manifesto is ruled by non-politics, aka a “kynic” practice. (See Sloterdijk, 1988).

(Seelisch, German origin word meaning mental, spiritual) Self-psychological example: Slobodan Milosevic does not care about the welfare of his Serbian citizens either, who have been the economic and psychological victims of his policy for over a decade.

Professional remake: “No Sh! t Policy.”

A personal designer’s mantra aka praxis attitude.

This manifesto refuses to have a set of permanent rules; instead, it chooses to operate in a multi-storytelling mode. KraalD has one design rule, gained experientially after two decades operating successfully (in terms of GDP) within the South African built and design environment. “No Sh! t Policy” got slowly established over the years of running Inspace Interiors, Johannesburg, RSA. Inspace, operated from 1998 to 2010, delivered interior architecture, project management, bespoke manufacture services and showroom retail.

Praxis has all the rights to reuse, and refuse.
The rule to reuse and refuse has carried over from my personal academic and architectural design practice in South Africa (RSA). Transforming Inspace Interiors (1998 to 2010), Johannesburg, RSA into the current design research and praxis narrative, KraalD, UK (2011 to present). Under 10% Project, I have incepted and lead Trash (2007), Cool Trash (2008-2009) and Play Trash (2010) groups at Greenside Design Center (GDC).

Thus, Designedisposal desires to narrate the social and material life of plastic disposal. The Designedisposal supports self and thing-remake; re-use; craft, trash aesthetics; refuse; design strategies; public engagement; new values; new habitual paradigm/s; visioning future aka Urban Ubuntu and New Earth.

* KraalDesignedisposal is in service to Σοφíα. (Greek origin Σοφíα, meaning wisdom, Coptic meaning knowledge). In Gnostic tradition and in the Nag Hammadi texts, Σοφíα is the lowest Aeon; She is the anthropic expression of the emanation of the light of God. She has been considered to have drifted away from her counterpart and divine source in some way, curiously hanging close to the fringe, observing her latest co-creation, the Anthropos. Thus, she has accidentally fallen from primordial creation and in doing so, has created the material world, the material universe I/We know, in an indigenous tradition called the middle world. That is why this praxis likes to refer to being stuck in the middle. (See Wesselman, 2016)

Respect to all Relations