A1 Journal article (refereed)
Designing Dissensual Common Sense : Critical Art, Architecture, and Design in Jacques Rancière’s Political Thought (2021)

Lohtaja, A. (2021). Designing Dissensual Common Sense : Critical Art, Architecture, and Design in Jacques Rancière’s Political Thought. Design and Culture, 13(3), 305-324. https://doi.org/10.1080/17547075.2021.1966730

JYU authors or editors

Publication details

All authors or editors: Lohtaja, Aleksi

Journal or series: Design and Culture

ISSN: 1754-7075

eISSN: 1754-7083

Publication year: 2021

Publication date: 10/09/2021

Volume: 13

Issue number: 3

Pages range: 305-324

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Publication country: United Kingdom

Publication language: English

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/17547075.2021.1966730

Publication open access: Openly available

Publication channel open access: Partially open access channel

Publication is parallel published (JYX): https://jyx.jyu.fi/handle/123456789/77867

Abstract

How can design be socially engaged and politically efficient, as proposed by discourses labeled as critical design? This article introduces a conceptualization and historiography of politically charged design discourse based on philosopher Jacques Rancière’s work on the intersections of politics, aesthetics, and critical artistic practices. By focusing especially on Rancière’s reading of the genealogy of design from Ruskin to constructivism and the Bauhaus, the article aims to show that there is an important connection between design and politics present in Rancière’s thought. Rather than solely revealing the oppressive dimension embedded in designed forms, for Rancière, design is itself a profound process of aesthetical and sensorial reconfiguration of the way in which we perceive and articulate our communal existence in “the shared material world.” The article suggests that this connection is useful for examining the broader encounter of critical design with political theory.

Keywords: architecture; design (artistic creation); Arts and crafts movement; constructivism (art); functionalism; political character; political theory; critical theory; aesthetics

Free keywords: critical design; political design; Jacques Rancière

Contributing organizations

Ministry reporting: Yes

Reporting Year: 2021

JUFO rating: 1