What is it about?
The chapter provides an overview of what it means to be in a world that is uncertain, e.g., how under conditions of limited understanding, any activity is an activity that designs and constructs, and how designing objects, spaces, and situations relates to the (designed) meta-world of second-order cybernetics. Furthermore, the chapter addresses ethical questions of design practice. To allow for the agency of future users, the designed object or space requires conceptual openness. The chapter argues that second-order cybernetics provides a response to this ethical challenge as it entails a poetics of designing.
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Why is it important?
Western aesthetics argues that works of art communicate to various audiences, apparently achieving universality, because they relate to higher-order principles that are independent of cultures and situations. 'A Poetics of Designing' argues that second-order cybernetics circumvents the necessity for a muse inspired artist or genius as a mediator between higher spirits, the work of art, and diverse audiences, in favour of artists and designers with true agency. These designers and artists also grant agency to future generations as second-cybernetics guides them in operating open systems. The chapter links Pask's conversation theory to selected concepts by Immanuel Kant and John Dewey, highlighting commonalities and differences.
Perspectives
Cybernetics is often associated with AI, which is, however, only one of the branches that developed on the basis of the interdisciplinary research begun in the 1940s and entitled cybernetics. I hope the chapter contributes to a better understanding of the second-order cybernetics that has been conceived in close relationship with art and design from the late 60s onwards.
Dr. Claudia Westermann
Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: A Poetics of Designing, January 2019, Springer Science + Business Media,
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-18557-2_13.
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Resources
A Poetics of Designing @SpringerLink
'A Poetics of Designing' is part of the first book-length collection of texts in Design Cybernetics. It introduces the subject from the point of view of aesthetics. Importantly, the chapter argues that second-order cybernetics circumvents the necessity for a muse inspired artist or genius as a mediator between higher spirits and life, in favour of artists and designers who have true agency.
A Poetics of Designing (manuscript)
Manuscript of the article 'A Poetics of Designing' by Claudia Westermann.
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