Third session¶
When? 6th November 2023
Who? Laura Benitez
What? Personal narratives, collective storytelling
Contents¶
The contents of Laura’s class were focused on the philosophical concept of narrative and story-telling. The first hour was a more theoretical hour in which Laura explained very well several concepts of various authors around the theme of Design Studio that day. During that hour we talked about power, bodies, interactions and relationships, matter, worl(d)ing, and, finally, figures.
With the concept of figure, Laura proposed the first deliverable. It was an individual exercise that you can find in the “Deliverables” section.
After the break, Laura proposed a second exercise. In this case, it was a group exercise. We all stood around the class and Laura started by tying a fennel stitch of red thread in her hand. The exercise consisted in passing the thread among all of us while controlling the network that was being formed with a reflection on how we are living the master and the learning of the last weeks.
The final result was a network of red thread that united us all, symbolizing the shared experience and the collective storytelling about our journey in the master.
Reflection¶
This was my first philosophy class with Laura. The truth is that it seemed to me a very different class from the ones we have done so far. The contents that Laura explained to us are very far from what I have studied and it is a little difficult for me to follow the line sometimes. I think that, for all of us, it is even more difficult because it is not in our usual language.
Anyway I am very interested to see how design and philosophy can really intertwine. I was especially interested in Spinoza’s concept of potestas/potentia, at first I didn’t understand it but with the examples and the explanation I seem to get the concept.
On the other hand, the concept that resonated with me the most was “We-are-in-this-together-but-we-are-not-one-and-the-same”; to focus on difference from a relational ontology, taking into acconut all of the relationchips between the agents in the “system”, although they are all different. I think we can apply this concept to every project we make and I would like to further keep it in mind.
I finally loved that Laura quoted Donna Haraway. For me this author is a personal challenge, I have tried to start reading her book “Chthulucene: Staying with the trouble” many times and I haven’t been able to understand and follow it. Maybe this is my chance, with the help of Laura, to achieve the goal of reading the whole book.
Deliverable¶
#1 individual¶
We had to choose a figure to tell a personal narrative.
When I lived in Milan for 1 whole year I used to be a bit homesick, mostly of my room and my bed. On february, when I had already been there for 5 months, my father came to visit and brought me my small pillow’s case from home. For me that simple object represented feeling at home again and it became my safety net for the following months. I chose the pattern of the pillow case of my bed to represent the returning to your roots and the value of the connection with your environment.
#2 grupal¶
We all have to write a collective storytelling through the materiality we have experimented with in the programme (experiences and experiments through this past weeks) Word-ling this thick world.
You will find our collective storytelling in this link.