31 30 #14 Design for deviance by June Kyong Trondsen “Without deviance from normality, there can be no progress” - Frank Zappa Frank Zappa’s work is characterized by unconventional, free-form improvisation, experimentation, musical virtuosity, and satire. Together with other creatives such as Andy Warhol, Virginia Wolf, Antoni Gaudi or even Lady Gaga, they illustrate the untapped potential in nonconformity, eccentricity, and strangeness counteracting our default desire to think, talk and act according to conventional perspectives and established norms. As opposed to avoiding deviance and disregarding it as something bad, shameful, abnormal, or even wrong, this workshop aims to embrace the concept as an investigative lens into critical thinking and speculative design. With a collaborative approach, creating a community of diverse identities, skills, competencies, cultures and mindsets, this workshop aims to take its participants on an inspirational and explorative journey of learning (and unlearning), to break out of normative patterns, reveal blind spots, and to speculate about the unfamiliar and unknown. Over 5 days, participants will engage with a range of investigative tools to critically discuss deviance in relation to commercial industry, through social phenomena and moral storylines, across times in history and in juxtaposition to other cultures. Arriving at an understanding of how deviance can act to narrate and maintain a status quo, the creative aspect of the workshop aims to showcase how we as creatives can use our criticality, artistry, imagination, and multiple skillsets to tell a different story. Each participant group will be challenged to experiment with concepts of deviance, normality, estrangement and familiarity to create a piece for an exhibition, and use elements of satire, exaggeration and parody to challenge the audience’ passive immersion into certain narratives and provoke reflection on social and and political issues.
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