Design Researchers in Residence 2024/25: Open Call

What are the limits of human-centric design in a more-than-human world?

The history of design is often read through the lens of anthropocentrism, where objects are imagined and manufactured to support human flourishing without concern for other species. Yet today we know well that this approach is part of a broader set of planetary crises which find their root in the artificial separation of the 'human' from the 'natural'.

With this in mind, for the next cohort of Design Researchers in Residence we are seeking proposals which confront, blur, contest and dismantle these boundaries.

We are interested in design research that questions assumptions around what is natural and what is unnatural; that designs collaboratively with the behaviour of plant species; that entangles itself with the architecture of animal habitats; that dresses itself in biosynthetic textiles; that models natural systems as computational ones; and which centres different forms of non-human agency in the past, present and future of design.

As always, Design Researchers in Residence is open to designers and researchers from disciplines including but not limited to: architecture, fashion, digital culture, critical theory, product design, graphic design, interaction design, system design, material studies and design history.

We encourage applicants to interpret the brief as openly as possible.

'Design Researchers in Residence: Artificial' will run from September 2024 – June 2025.

HOW TO APPLY

To apply, please visit the Future Observatory website via the link below for further instructions and download the Application Form. Please ensure that you read the 'Call for Entries' document before filling out and submitting your Application Form.

All applications must be sent to artificial@designmuseum.org before 9:00am (UK time) on Monday 23 September 2024.

Design Researchers in Residence is Future Observatory’s programme for design research into the climate crisis hosted at the Design Museum. This funded residency supports thinkers at the start of their careers to develop new research on environmental concerns centred around a particular theme.

This year’s theme is Artificial. For the residency programme Future Observatory are interested in design research projects exploring the limits of human-centrism in a more-than-human world.

The residency has two main aims: to provide design researchers in the early stages of their careers time and space away from their regular environment to develop and produce new work, and to offer museum visitors an opportunity to engage with live design research projects.

Each year the residency accommodates four researchers, working in different design disciplines to develop a piece of independent research in response to the theme and brief. Towards the end of the residency, the work of the four residents is presented in a free display at the Design Museum and in an accompanying print catalogue.

Each resident is provided with a commissioning budget of £6,000 and a bursary of £11,400, as well as studio space at the museum and a programme of mentorship, training and seminars from experts both in and outside the Design Museum.

Background image: Interwoven I4 by Diana Scherer