This lecture discussed the possibilities and challenges of Futuress as an intersectional feminist platform mostly operating online. Among sharing how intersectional feminist values shape the platform, the presentation also asked: What are the implications of Futuress being perceived as larger and more stable than it actually is? What happens if the platform ceases to exist? And what are Futuress’ current strategies to be less dependent on funding?

This lecture shared approaches to process-oriented practices and how to critically examine the politics of “doing” through the format of propositions. Propositions—a term borrowed from feminist artist and researcher Alex Martinis Roe—are understood here as ways of translating a particular practice (way or doing) into a document so that its politics can be discussed, shared, and adapted for different contexts. As an umbrella term, propositions are open source documentations that can take the form of prompts, scores, protocols, assignment records, or workshop scripts. Rather than aiming for a specific output, they center experience and exchange and serve as a way to trace back context-dependent approaches in flux. The lecture shared how propositions can be implemented in artistic research processes and teaching practices.

This lecture and roundtable focused on curating self-organized platforms and examined why designers today see a need to create alternative spaces that counter existing institutional frameworks. Through two examples of platforms, Futuress and Munnen, it discussed why and how these have emerged, how they are curated and organised, what issues they address, and which communities they engage with.

Participants: Mio Kojima, Johnny Chang and Sara Kaaman, introduction and moderation by Magnus Ericson and Christina Zetterlund.

What can it look like to build practices that center intersectional feminist values and are sensitive to different forms of discrimination? And where to begin to keep that promise? This lecture shared what moving beyond lip service in publishing, curating, and facilitating might look like—and what challenges may lie in acknowledging the different politics at play. From the politics of invitation in curating to breaking knowledge hierarchies in facilitating, the lecture shared some hands-on things to consider when making space for others, while exploring approaches and clarifying terms often used in critical design discourse, such as intersectional feminisms, para-academic spaces, solutionism, and knowledge politics.

What is discrimination, how does it affect individuals and society as a whole, and how can we teach and learn in a discrimination-sensitive way? As an impulse from teachers for teachers, this lecture focuses on discrimination-sensitive approaches that can be integrated into teaching in parallel with structural changes (e.g., through diversity guidelines). Drawing from scholarships on anti-discriminatory educational work and our own teaching experience, we share approaches that address teachers’ and students’ individual positions and needs—from self-reflecting privileges and questioning the design canon to anti-ableist seminar preparation and non-violent interaction.

Based on an examination of discriminatory structures on an individual and institutional level, the lecture discussed discrimination in the context of the university and shared approaches for discrimination-sensitive organizational development, working, and teaching.
Among other things, the input engaged with questions such as: What is discrimination, and what consequences does it have for individuals and the institution? How can structural barriers be dismantled and participation enabled? What are common uncertainties in discrimination-sensitive work, and how can they be approached?

The lecture was part of the “Anti-discrimination” thematical day of the extended university management for the administration of all departments as well as for the rectorate and staff representatives.

In “Publishing Anecdotes,” practitioners from the broad field of artistic and critical publishing were invited to share a short anecdote from their practice—a thought, an image, a memory, or whatever else they had at hand. In conversation with graphic designer, researcher, and cultural worker Roman Karrer, I talked about my journey at Futuress and my current role as co-director, provided insight into Futuress’ upcoming endeavors, and shared how my desire to work in publishing is fuelled by my drive to lifelong learning and finding community.
The publication also gathered contributions by the initiator of [Imagine: A Bookshop] Björn Giesecke, Books People Places, Edition Zweifel, Jungle Books, Macaco Press, founder of Queer.Archive.Work Paul Soulellis, Pseudopress, Robida, Roland Früh, Sans Soleil, Set Margins’, Wirklichkeit Books.

Image by Roman Karrer.

Futuress' journey is part of the very first issue of the Tokyo-based independent magazine Troublemakers! In September 2023, Troublemakers co-founders Manami Inoue and Yuto Miyamoto spoke with us about our role as co-directors of the platform for design politics Futuress, how we came to engage with feminist practices and pedagogies, and why design is inherently political.

Troublemakers team: Editor: Yuto Miyamoto; Art Director: Manami Inoue; English Translation: Julia Mio Inuma, Nikki Tsukamoto Kininmonth; English Proofreading: Susie Krieble

As a practice that gives space for other’s voices, publishing is inherently political: from editorial decisions of who gets published to accessible language and careful consideration of imagery and its meanings. This lecture gave insights into the publishing practice of Futuress—a feminist platform for design politics and a hybrid between a publishing platform and a learning community. It shared Futuress’ understanding of democratizing design education and amplifying marginalized voices and discussed the platform’s organization from pitch to publishing, its exchange with other platforms, and future dreams.

Take a deep breath in through your nose, and a deep breath out through your mouth... In a few breaths we are meeting in a parallel space-time in which we can share and dream stories of empowerment through publishing, in an expanded understanding of the term, including oral transmission and hybrid~cyborg formats.
From (micro-)typography to editorial structures. From gossip to public speech. From ghostwriting to collective pamphlets.

As part of the one-day-gathering, the reading composed a landscape of shared experiences in bringing different voices together. From cujuring up relations through the “I” and “we,” to lost languages, slippery words, and embracing silence.

Recipes for Connecting is a project by the A—Z Collective, featuring “recipe” submissions from an international group of creatives, community builders, kids-at-heart, collectives, educators, and other cohorts who believe in the power of a simple idea to bring people closer together.
These “recipes” illustrate many different methods of connecting – offering practical social tools, humorous prompts, gentle reminders, alternative structures of communication, and scrumptious meals. Together they create a patchwork of insights into “connecting” on individual, interpersonal, human, non-human, and collective levels.
In the exhibition, over 60 different “recipes” pages are on display and available for purchase. Each visitor is invited to assemble chosen pages as they please, self-bind on-site, and create a personalized compendium. Visitors are also invited to contribute their own “recipes.”

How can we collectively transform our society? Challenges and perspectives for an active and inclusive co-creation of democracy.

To incorporate intersectional feminist values into design teaching and move toward a more equitable teaching environment, we must embrace change as an ongoing and never-ending journey. This talk addressed the need to start with daily practices and values rather than indulging in grand gestures.
A New School, A Summer School was organized by Destina Atasayar, Katharina Brenner, Lu Herbst, Lucie Jo Knilli, Charlotte Perka, and Lioba Wachtel.

How can we rethink education with and about design to break normative and exclusive structures from school education to academia? Covering critical design practices, emancipatory learning experiences, and the democratization of design education, the lecture focused on the daily practices of feminist and intersectional values and which challenges we face as educators and learners within a world shaped by neoliberal, individualistic, and capitalistic systems.
The symposium was initiated by Lia Bach, Lea Meister, Ida Heil, Jana Ollech, Lukas Milkereit, Lea Lee, Laura Sistig und Eli Alaimo Di Loro.

Belle Room is a discussion space within which intersectional perspectives on the design industry are presented and reflected. It asks: What do queer-feminist, decolonial, and anti-classist practices look like, both within and against the design economy? The format aims to highlight the entanglements between design and systems of oppression and discuss alternative practices that consider and contest power structures.
Initiated by Quang Nguyen at Kunsthochschule Weissensee Berlin.

How can we appropriate digital spaces and engage with them in a self-determined and emancipatory way? The conversation gives insights into the research project Hybrid Encounters/In Close Distance (see below). It shares experiences made during the performative investigation in the second part of the project and examines conventions and restrictions of digital communication.

Design: lob.tf and Bárbara Acevedo Strange
Edited by Lena Reitschuster

From a feminist perspective, the personal, the political, and the professional are inseparable. At the 2021 Weltformat Festival, which centered on the theme of identity, we talked about how this interweaving of seemingly separate realms becomes visible in Futuress’ structures: why schedules are political, how Futuress questions the notion of the objective, and how it creates space for a new design canon. The lecture was accompanied by video statements by the Futuress community members Heba Daghistani, Noemi Parisi, and Sherine Salla.

Vulnerabilities are part or are every day realities but are habitually hidden away or smoothed over in professional contexts. While talking about the projects F for Failing Queerly, P for Professional Amateur, and E for Embracing Differences, the conversation aimed at sharing vulnerabilities to find common ground and solidarity.

Feminist Findings showcased the joint research of the L.i.P. Collective—the very first Futuress fellowship. Spread over four continents and many time zones, 23 women and non-binary people connected through the beams of their computer screens to dig through digital archives, searching for the missing histories of feminist journals, magazines, zines, newspapers, and newsletters. A wunderkammer brimming with photographs, artefacts, logos, magazines, quotes, excerpts, resources, pages, footnotes, and digressions, Feminist Findings is a messy, knotted web manifesting its own collective research process.
The show has been curated by Eliot Gisel, Madeleine Morley, and Nina Paim.