The Designed Realities Lab is a research and teaching platform working across The New School that combines design with social thought and the liberal arts in order to develop alternative narratives to technological futures.
The lab is dedicated to sustaining the idea of multiple possibilities and alternative values in the face of an increasingly monolithic worldview of our technological future. It uses design as a catalyst for a form of interdisciplinary imagining that synthesizes
social and political thought, world-making, and emerging technology. At its core is the idea that imagination can be a political force within society.
The main focus is on understanding, challenging and offering new examples of how technological narratives can be developed and presented through design and critical thinking in ways that challenge assumptions and inspire further imagining rather than
communicating a vision of how things will or should be. It aims to contribute to a public environment where new visions can flourish, imagination thrives, and alternative technological narratives can begin to emerge more organically, bottom-up rather
than top-down.
The unit operates on a number of levels: collaborative research projects, commissions, self-initiated projects, and taught studio classes, all disseminated through talks, exhibitions and publications.
For more information or to discuss possible collaborations and projects please email [email protected].