http://www.cumulusassociation.org/cumulus-conference-paris-2018-to-get-there/
Background to get there: designing together
Because we believe that tomorrow the various approaches to design should follow a common path, we aim to stimulate collaborative practices to let innovation and unpredictability break free. We aim to get an outlook of the future, to get ideas we would have never had alone. To get somewhere new, all of us. To get there, achieving together.
In partnership for the past two years within the framework of CÉSAAP, the four Parisian Schools of Art and Design, Boulle, Duperré, Estienne, and Ensaama have decided to share their expertise, to mutualised experiences and to host Cumulus 2018 conference.
Cumulus Paris 2018 is part of a cross-cutting and interdisciplinary approach. It highlights both collective and collaborative practices. Its goal is to make otherness a positive force, to make design and the meeting of talents a compelling tool to act on what is real. By keeping the main concerns of our institutions, such as pedagogy, learning, transmission, the professional world and society, as the guiding theme, we wish to call on you to question this concept of ‘together/to get there’ through five main areas developed below.
The aim is also to welcome people who work both as academics and as professionals, not excluding research and theory to give answers.
TOGETHER, THE NEED FOR A SHARED LANGUAGE? Does the interdisciplinarity inherent to design imply speaking a common language? Acculturating to the language of the other, inventing a common language and culture in order to understand each other and progress together, could it therefore be the condition of successful interdisciplinary collaboration? But what is the language of designers? How do other professions in design and other disciplines understand design and designers, how the end-users? Have designers invented their own language? If so, what is its nature? How can we evolve in the Tower of Babel that is the manufactory of the world?
TOGETHER, (RE)ACQUAINTANCE WITH ACTORS? Productions stemming from design are rarely the work of a single person. While the credits of a film present an exhaustive list of all contributors, this is not the case with fashion or even architectural projects, which nevertheless only emerge with the assistance of several professions. Whether visible or concealed, these credits reveal the methods of organising creative work. Whether vertical or horizontal rationales, very hierarchical or elective (collectives, associations, etc.), all are effective and impact design.
TOGETHER… OR HAPPY ALONE? The collective imaginary of creation is rooted in the figure of the author, the artist, of a distinct personality. The world of creation has always produced a tension between individuality and collectivity. Several design studios showcase the name of the creator behind whom numerous assistants are concealed. In addition, from the top of his ‘ivory tower’, the creator knows very well how to find his place among his peers. How does this tension operate, between the fact of working alone and working in a group? How much solitude or interaction with others is necessary to give birth to a remarkable production?
TOGETHER, THE LIFTING OF CONFLICTS? Being together, doing together, is not just about conviviality and good humour, it is also about comparing oneself to others, to their ideas, their actions, their interests and it is about taking the risk of not always being on the same wavelength or about calling oneself into question. Collectivity is not always chosen, but if it is approached in an active and participative manner it can become a place of unexpected exchange of ideas, of skills and of creativity and it can make shared solutions emerge. How is design a good lever for action to escape what divides, opposes, excludes or oversteps these rationales of division, opposition and exclusion?
TOGETHER, HOW TO FOSTER INNOVATION? Working in groups, whether intra- or interdisciplinary, is above all recognised for its capacity to unlock the creative potential of everyone, to promote the unpredictable, to diversify approaches and to extend the limits of what is possible. How is interdisciplinarity in the field of design a lever for innovation? Why is design almost always allotted to objectives of innovation? Is there a designated discipline to try to reach this objective? Where is innovation situated, if it exists? Is it a formal, everyday, technical or social innovation?
