AIO SALON: What if… A 1% RULE FOR PUBLIC DESIGN

AIO Salon with Henric Benesch and Onkar Kular, active at HDK-Valand, Gothenburg University, and the artist Adam James.

The evening begins with a LARP (Live Action Role Play), a workshop staged by the artist Adam James. Our task for the evening will be to imagine Rian as a new form of public resource, a public design office.

“You have been invited to work for the general design office for two years. As a Swedish citizen, you are asked to devote 20% of your working week to the design office and the remaining 80% to your regular work. Your salary will be equivalent to that of a public servant.”

In the workshop, together we change the building Rian, from a museum displaying design and arts and crafts, to serving a new public function. In three short scenarios, participants are invited to play fictional roles, as members of the public and/or public servants. What role should the public design office fulfill, what activities should it accommodate and how should we who work there use our individual and collective experiences to shape its content?

The workshop is followed by a reflective conversation between Henric Benesch and Onkar Kular, based on the text “What if… a 1% rule for public design”, published in AIO Journal #10, about the need for new approaches to public space where the design profession and the public is allowed to collaborate to create future living environments  together.

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The salon is a joint arrangement between Rian and Art Inside Out and is part of a series of three during the ongoing residency. The conversation will be held in English