Critical Design Studio Quadrilogy
#4 Electricity
İstanbul Bilgi University. Spring 2017
Project Coordinator: Avşar Gürpınar
Instructors: Şule Koç, Görkem Özdemir

Description
1 a : a fundamental form of energy observable in positive and negative forms that occurs naturally (as in lightning) or is produced (as in a generator) and that is expressed in terms of the movement and interaction of electrons
b : electric current or power
2: a science that deals with the phenomena and laws of electricity
3: keen contagious excitement

This last leg of the autonomous studio quadrilogy *-city, traces our everyday objects back to their electrical roots isolated from the current abundance of electronic objects, techno-surveillant IoT’s and pseudo-functional robotics. The project delves into the possibilities of electricity in its purest state, questioning our relation with inanimate objects through sensorial input/outputs. As always, we are trying to use design as a critical medium for reflecting on the cultural, social, ethical impact of technology.





*The first known photograph of a moving image produced by Baird's "televisor", circa 1926 (The subject is Baird's business partner Oliver Hutchinson).

This studio aims for the evaluation and design of electrical objects in their widest sense, not as products but as concepts. They reveal their genuine possibilities of form and function when they are critically assessed as artefacts initiating a critical perspective, instead of the repetition of certain archetypes. Defining the design needs not simply from a pragmatic perspective, enables the designer to escape from categorical/paradigmatic congestions, thus by eluding the conventional rituals and easy formulas of professionalism, the physical and mental space of a more unique and unconstrained design activity could be expanded.