Author Archive

we have stopped updating the tools section of Precarity Pilot. Our life has become overwhelmingly busy since our child was born and we are just never finding the time to actually clean up, organise and publish the materials still lingering on our computers and in notebooks. We have however began to put in practice...  Read more ›

We are very pleased to be joining the symposium Aesthetics of Adaptation organised by Paola De Martin of ETH Zürich to discuss how to undo classism within design. The symposium The Aesthetic of Adaptation questions the euphoric neoliberal narrative about the rise of a creative class. We will start from Paola De Martin’s observations...  Read more ›

Trajna, an Association for the Development of Sustainable design, is organising the first in a series of three events, dedicated to empowering creative workers who are working on addressing our current economic, social and environmental issues. The event will start by a short talk about planetary boundaries in the context of our prevailing economic...  Read more ›

Precarity Pilot is part of the exhibtion Lorem ipsum – Talking about Graphic Design at the Design Museum in Helsinki (FIN) that celebrates the 85th anniversary of the Finnish graphic desing association. 23 March to 27 May 2018 Helsinki Thanks to the two curators Kiia Beilinson and Arja Karhumaa for inviting us into this...  Read more ›

We’ve added a new section to the platform where we reflect on how people involved in design education (students, tutors, administrators) can contribute to tackle precarious working conditions.  Read more ›

Together with Decolonising Design and Depatriarchise Design, we will be activating a discussion platform during the Swiss Design Network Conference Beyond Change on 8-10 March 2018. Thanks to Claudia Mareis, Nina Paim and Julia Sommerfeld for inviting us into this space.  Read more ›

Pleased to be contributing to this year’s Papanek Symposium on ‘Design and Ethics’ hosted at the Austrian Embassy in London. The symposium is directed by Alison J. Clarke and co-organised by Leah Armstrong.  Read more ›

Together with Paolo Plotegher, we will be running a 3-day workshop at the Trojan Horse Summerschool on the Finnish island Bengtsår. Looking forward to this!  Read more ›

In a few days we’ll be contributing with a talk and a workshop to the upcoming By Design or By Disaster conference, at the Faculty of Design and Art of the Free University of Bolzano-Bozen. Very glad to see that our interest for the economies of eco-social design resonates. Here are the slides of...  Read more ›

We’re delighted to contribute to Exploring Territories, the Graphic Design Educators’ Network second annual conference, which will explore the physical, intellectual and existential terrain of design learning and teaching. 9 September 2016 Cardiff School of Art and Design – B Block, Cardiff Metropolitan University Western Avenue, Cardiff, CF5 2YB  Read more ›

A workshop at the PhD by Design event at the Design Research Society conference in Brighton on June 27, 2016 – in collaboration with Joanna Boehnert (University of Westminster). Download the outcomes of the workshop. With the academic and industry-based research environment firmly embedded in neoliberal politics, precarious working environments area a problem even...  Read more ›

On the 24th May, we’ll coordinate the workshop “Making academic careers together. Recruitment, precariousness and gender”, which takes place in the context of the research project “Garcia” and COOP 2016 – XII International Conference on the Design of Cooperative Systems, hosted by the Department of Information Engineering and Computer Science of the University of...  Read more ›

After 8 months of our monthly reading group and some time off for parental leave, we are back to running workshops :)  Read more ›

We just added a new tool to the section on Cooperation & Support: Shaping design practices for the anthropocene.  Read more ›

We just posted a new entry to the glossary: – matters of care  Read more ›

We’ve just updated the thematic sections with some great suggestions for your library: From University to Work Lazzarato, Maurizio. The Making of the Indebted Man: An Essay on the Neoliberal Condition. Translated by Joshua David Jordan. Los Angeles: Semiotext(e), 2012. Lorey, Isabell. “Governmentality and Self-Precarization,” May 4, 2006. http://eipcp.net/transversal/1106/lorey/en/print. Perlin, Ross. Intern Nation: How...  Read more ›

These are the notes from a talk given at Camberwell College of Art to kick-start The Expanded Designer strand on ‘power’.  Read more ›

We are starting a reading group around the book Take back the economy – an ethical guide to transforming our communities by J.K. Gibson-Graham, Stephen Healy and Jenny Cameron. We will use the book to stimulate discussions about our socially and politically engaged design practices and the various economies that accompany them. This means...  Read more ›

Welcome back from the summer break! The next Precarity Pilot workshop in Leeds takes place on Thursday, 17 September at 5.30 pm at the Laidlaw Library. This time we propose to look at each other’s website (or other on-line presence), CV, portfolio or anything else that each of us wants to have feedback on....  Read more ›

The text on the context out of which Precarity Pilot grew is now on-line: Precarity Pilot: Making Space for Socially- and Politically-Engaged Design Practice.  Read more ›

We just added a new tool to the section on Cooperation & Support: Creating, circulating and defending the commons.  Read more ›

On August 3, we’re running a Precarity Pilot workshop at the Travelogue Summer School in Porto. We’re planning to make it a mesh-up between engaging with issues of precarity and the right to the city. Thanks to Ana Schefer for organising this.  Read more ›

On July 19, Dailey Crafton is running a Precarity Pilot workshop at Lockstep Studio in Brooklyn, NY. It will focus on creating economies of generosity. Here you can sign up for it.  Read more ›

The next Precarity Pilot workshop in Leeds takes place on Wednesday, 10 June from 5pm to 7.30pm. Brotherton Library Foyer Woodhouse Lane Leeds LS2 9JT map and street view We propose to focus on ways of organising one’s finances and time. We will bring along a series of tools and tactics we think are...  Read more ›

On Wednesday, 3 June we are running an all-day Precarity Pilot workshop at this year’s Cumulus conference in Milan.  Read more ›

On Friday, 29 May – in collaboration with Gaja Mežnarič Osole – we are running an all-day Precarity Pilot workshop at Poligon in Ljubljana. The day before, we are contributing to a roundtable discussion on the future of jobs in Europe.  Read more ›

From May 21st to July 5th, Precarity Pilot is part of a group exhibition at Akademie Schloss Solitude in Stuttgart. This is the place where – through a design fellowship – we began to work on this project.  Read more ›

On Wednesday, 20 May, we are visiting the Merz Akademie in Stuttgart to run a Precarity Pilot workshop with the students of David Quigley on the MA “Wissensbildung in Gestaltung, Kunst und Medien”. Together we will think about the attributes and skills of the “ideal practitioner” and the kind of milieu these create.  Read more ›

This is the presentation with which we contributed to the Making Other Worlds Possible sessions that focused on disruptive innovators during the annual meeting of the Association of American Geographers in Chicago, in April 2015. The sessions were organised by Stephen Healy and Katherine Gibson from the Community Economies Research Network.  Read more ›

The next Precarity Pilot workshop in Leeds is taking place on Thursday, 7 May 2015 from 5pm to 7.30pm. This time we’ll meet in the Foyer of the Brotherton Library. If the weather is nice, we can then move to St George’s Field – it’s just a couple of minutes away. Brotherton Library Woodhouse...  Read more ›

Arts, activism, education, research. A short interview with Platform London on their Social Justice Waging System. Thanks!  Read more ›

Carpenters, woodland managers, former architects. Just added a new interview with Blackbark workers’ co-op. Inspiring.  Read more ›

Precarity Pilot will be part of the exhibition Design Latitudes at the University of Alberta, Canada. The exhibition maps the innovations, influences and future directions of design studies in the north. May 12 to June 6, 2015 Fine Arts Building Gallery, University of Alberta Edmonton (53.53° N), Canada Opening reception: May 21, 7 to...  Read more ›

On April 21, we will discuss Precarity Pilot with fellow members of the Community Economies Research Network. This will happen during the annual meeting of the Association of American Geographers in Chicago. Making Other Worlds Possible V: The Role of Disruptive Innovation and New Political Imaginaries 21 April 2015 – 4:40 PM – 6:20...  Read more ›

The next Precarity Pilot workshop in Leeds takes place on Wednesday, 15 April 2015 from 5pm to 7.30pm. The workshop is being planned by Brave New Alps, Louis Tuckman and Vik Chandla. This time, East Street Art is hosting us. More details soon. East Street Arts Patrick Studios St Mary’s Lane,
 Leeds LS9 7EH...  Read more ›

Precarity Pilot has a hashtag. Please use it for all your PP-related tweets: #precaritypilot  Read more ›

The next Precarity Pilot workshop in Leeds takes place on Thursday, 12 March 2015 from 5pm to 7.30pm. This time we’ll work around ambitions and role models. The workshop has been planned and will be facilitated by Brave New Alps, Lucy Courtney-Clegg & Alice Withers from Reet So and Jake Tollady. 53 The Calls...  Read more ›

On Friday, 6th March, we continue to strategise with Visual Communication students a the Royal College of Art. This time we focus on diverse modes of practice. Valeria Graziano and Constance Laisné are going to join us, sharing some of their knowledge on inventive and collective ways of organising. From 10am to 11.30am, there...  Read more ›

We just added two items to the glossary: – prefigurative politics – value and value-practices  Read more ›

On Friday, 20 February and 6 March, we will be strategising around design, value-practices and ways of organising with 22 Visual Communication students of the Royal College of Art. Curious to learn what people want to move with their practice and what plans for resilience we can come up with!  Read more ›

Today, the monthly workshop series is kicking off in Leeds. Really looking forward to the great mix of people that singed up! The dates for the next workshops in the city are: Thursday, 12 March 2015 – hosted at the studio of reetso at 53 The Calls LS2 7EY  Read more ›

A text on Precarity Pilot is out on ‘Modes of Criticism 1‘. In it, we focus on the context out of which the project grew, the goals we work towards and the methods we are using.  Read more ›

A monthly “strategising” group for making socially and politically engaged practices resilient. WHAT A series of 12 monthly workshops – each of 2.5 hours – on how to develop and sustain your own socially and politically engaged design practice. WHEN From February 2015 to February 2016 (with a summer break). 2nd Thursday of the...  Read more ›

Just added a section on caring for your eyes – a major “organ of trade”. Thank you to graphic designer Agnieszka Łukasik for compiling this.  Read more ›

On Wednesday, 21 January 2015, Bianca will be taking part in a debate organised by Luise Vormittag. With illustrator Jake Steel and the BA students in Graphic Design, she will debate what it takes to make a living in the creative industries. D&I Debates: For love or for money? Passion and precarity in the...  Read more ›

A four-pages feature on Precarity Pilot came out on the magazine South as a State of Mind (issue #5) – published by Kunsthalle Athena in Greece. You can get the magazine here.  Read more ›

As some of you might know, we’ve been working on Precarity Pilot for almost a year now. So we are happy that the project website is finally ready to go-live! We also want to thank everyone who has contributed to Precarity Pilot so far! … and more content to come as the project evolves...  Read more ›