Critical Making
Full course description
We engage with the world in two ways: by thinking and by making. However, these are typically considered separately, especially in academic contexts, thus creating an artificial distinction between conceptual and material exploration. But, can the act of making help us think critically, develop arguments, and achieve value? Ratto and Hockema first used the term ‘critical making’ to reflect on the ‘socio-technical environment’ and the fact that ‘materially-engaged activities provide cognitive resources for thinking’. By taking this course you will learn how making in different physical and digital forms can enhance your thinking, help you formulate arguments, and answer research questions. By taking a project-based approach, this course will provide you with skills and competencies that will enable you to work in teams, follow robust approaches to carry out projects from start to finish, and reflect on the products of your work.
Course objectives
● Develop a critical understanding of maker culture, its current cultural and social context and its role in the 21st century knowledge production.
● Apply the concept of critical making to reflect on and analyze the value of physical and digital designs as well as your own practice.
● Use design thinking as a method to respond to problems and create (digital) solutions.
● Conceptualize and make physical and digital objects collaboratively and reflect critically on your making process and its outputs.
Prerequisites
None
Recommended reading
Hertz, G. (n.d). What is Critical Making? https://current.ecuad.ca/what-is-critical-making
Ratto, M. & Hertz, G. (2019). Critical Making and Interdisciplinary Learning: Making as a Bridge Between Art, Science, Engineering, and Social Interventions. In Bogers, L. & Chiappini, L. (eds), The Critical Makers Reader: (Un) learning Technology (pp. 18-28.). Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences. https://networkcultures.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/CriticalMakersReader.pdf
Resch, G., Southwick, D., Record, I., Ratto, M., & Sayers, J. (2018). Thinking as handwork: critical making with humanistic concerns. In Sayers, J. (ed), Making Things and Drawing Boundaries. Experiments in the Digital Humanities (pp. 149-61). University of Minnesota Press. https://dhdebates.gc.cuny.edu/read/untitled-aa1769f2-6c55-485a-81af-ea82cce86966/section/4b5fd8b4-2a39-4d7a-a563-3e611da220f0