This open group conversation discusses the politics of creating space for others within workshop formats.
The term “workshop” traditionally describes the space in which objects are crafted and a concrete set of knowledge is transferred from master to apprentice. Since the 1950s, however, activists and artists increasingly embraced the format and broke away from specific knowledge and predetermined goals. Instead, “workshop” is now often understood as a framework for creating experiences and facilitating exchange. Workshopping within artistic and designerly mediating practices thus often questions facilitator-participant hierarchies, linear learning paths, and hegemonic notions of what is considered to be valued knowledge. However, time precarity and budgetary constraints often don’t leave enough space to fully investigate how emancipatory learning can be put into practice.
In this conversation, we asked:
💬 How can mediators create transparent, inclusive, and safe environments without falling into rigidity or lip service?
💬 What kind of relationships and responsibilities can we practice in these short-term encounters?
💬 How can we embrace friction, failure, and the unforeseeable?
“Let’s Talk” is an open conversation format to exchange working methods, research topics, and issues related to working in the fields of arts and design, culture, and education. It aims to connect across disciplines, support one another in professional struggles, and inspire to learn from each other’s questions, doubts, concerns, and victories.
Event Information
This event was co-organized with the Federal Office of Culture’s 2024 Swiss Design Awards and co-moderated with Swiss Design Awards finalists Habib Asfar (he/none) and Mara Züst (she/her) from the community art project Mini-Zine-Library.
The event was followed by a panel conversation between Mara Züst and Habib Asfar. “Design as Mediation: On the Everyday Politics of Space-Making Practices” picking up on some topics emerging in the Let’s Talk conversation and discussing how to question power structures and challenge hegemonic notions of value and knowledge in workshopping and publishing.
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