PhD Research Week 11 Y2

DESIS Philosophy Talk at Design Academy EinhovenStorytelling and design for social innovation #2 “Designers telling stories”

"What is the role / power of the poetical side of stories when we talk about sustainability and social innovation?

The act of telling these stories makes them visible, tangible, and allows existing initiatives to grow and further develop and for new ones to take shape. How do we as designers look around us, see potentialities (both past as present potentialities), and bring them into actuality? Amongst the many philosophers who have been working on the idea of storytelling, we let ourselves be inspired by the work of the German philosopher Hannah Arendt. She believes that storytelling is in essence the act to recognise the potentiality that is hiding behind the mainstream, and be able to read this potentiality, to translate it, to tell its story.

With this philosophical foundation, this mini-event will encourage the presenters and audience to reflect and begin answering many questions together; What are the nuances in designers telling stories? How can we better express this poetic dimension of telling-making in our design practice (videos, objects, pictures?) In which way are designer today storytellers (or not)? How can we translate all these questions in design guidelines? How can we use stories to create transformative energy within society?"