ASO Studio: Waste Machines - Unmaking Intelligent Spaces

ASOS Catalog Course Description

More and more technology has shorter and shorter lifespans. Discontinued devices, designed obsolescence, junk products and abandoned IoTs all litter the landscape of technology innovation and production. Companies design products that are deliberately difficult to repair, upgrade or sustain. When they break, become defunct, are abandoned or upgraded by their owner, this outdated technology is dumped, dismantled and often disposed of after only a few years of use. This perpetual cycle of consumption and waste has resulted in mountains of discarded electronics. What alternatives can we imagine?

This studio examines how we might { break down; undo; rethink; dismantle; discard } the { visions; systems; objects; infrastructures; landscapes; junk; detritus } of { smart; connected; intelligent } technology. 

Using a design research approach, we examine and unpack the wasteful, material and resource intensive cycles of innovation found within modern technology. We start this process by inventorying and drawing together disparate examples, perspectives and projects from across disciplinary lines of art, design, architecture, human computer interaction and media theory. This is coupled with design-driven, human-centered inquiries where we trace and map our cultures of technology abandonment. These explorations help us understand the systems of obsolescence and collaboratively develop resources from which we can generate possibilities, insights and opportunities. Finally, we imagine and materialize these possibilities as new speculative forms and landscapes for dialog, debate and discussion with wider audiences.