The course Together-Repair held at the School of Design and Architecture in the Iceland Academy of the Arts seeks to enhance collaboration between design disciplines and local agents with the aim of using design as an instrument for social change.

“The fundamental goal of design is no longer the production of yet another chair. It’s a form of inquiry, and of agency.”
Jan Boelen (Head of Social Design, Design Academy Eindhoven).

“Design contributes to the evolution of individual human capital and defines our collectively held social capital”

Alastair Faud-Luke.

OBJECTIVES

The course Together-Repair is about social design and social change. Design can be used as a tool to rethink everyday life, to transform ideas about industrial production, government, public and private space, pre-established systems and networks, and to generate new forms of activism, political consciousness, and community. Design is a research process that can act as an agent of change in the society.
Social design means putting people first and thinking of the impact that design and making processes have on society. Can social links be ‘repaired’ or strengthened? How can design promote participation in the creation of a greater good?

CHALLENGES

The teams composed by Mentors, Facilitators and Students all from the Iceland Academy of the Arts together with different and diverse Local Agencies collaborate together in building projects or interventions able to repair and improve a social issue in the Icelandic society.

Together-Repair seeks to strengthen the collaboration between different disciplines, create new networks with local agencies and citizens, in order to create a positive social impact. Each project addresses specific needs and becomes a Designer Activist: “A designer Activist uses the power of design for the greater good of humankind and nature. A person who is a free agent; a non-aligned social broker and catalyst; a facilitator; an author; a creator; a co-author; a co-creator; and a happener (someone who makes things happen).” Alastair Faud-Luke

Authors:
Birna Geirfinnsdóttir
Garðar Eyjólfsson
Halldóra Guðrún Ísleifsdóttir
Katrín María Káradóttir
Lóa Auðunsdóttir
Massimo Santanicchia
Sigrún Birgisdóttir
Thomas Pausz

Selected graduation projects

Höfnun skilgreiningarinnar
BLÓM vs. VÉLAR