The concept of techriolage relates to the approach to reappropriate technical objects. It investigates the potential of integrating traditional crafts with electronic waste to engage communities in repair practices, and foster a more ecological and culturally sensitive design culture.
I want to delve into the philosophical implications of the relationship between technology and human existence, emphasising the importance of local knowledge and cultural diversity in addressing modern day problems of electronic waste. For example:
What alternative methods and processes can we develop to address the multiple crises created by unchecked capitalism?
What modes of resistance are possible across academic, cultural, governmental, business and activist institutions?
Most importantly, how can we participate in reimagining ways of life with attention to design justice?
Under the umbrella of criticality, justice, power and futurism, pluriversal design seeks to create polyphonic speculations. It moves away from dominant Eurocentric, patriarchal and imperialist ideologies, toward postcolonial, radical, and marginalised futures.
Earth Overshoot Day
Massy Atlantis, a newly constructed, fantastical township located 20km south of Paris in the suburbs, evokes the fictional island from Plato’s Timaeus and Critias through its name. However, the weekly accumulation of trash reflects the consumption patterns of the township’s “designed human” inhabitants.
The term “designed human” is used here instead of “ideal human” or “normal human” to emphasise that our daily lives are constantly governed by external forces such as algorithms, data and systems. These systems are designed by people, for people, to serve common interests and generic efficacy devoid of ornaments. This concept is particularly relevant in Western, educated, industrialised, rich and democratic (WEIRD) societies, which represent 73% of participants in computer-human interaction (CHI) studies, despite constituting only 12% of the global population. The designed human reflects how modern architecture and technology shape human experiences, creating a quasi-human figure that is both a product and a participant in the designed environment.
Weekly waste serves as a clear indicator of the accumulation and consumption of globalised goods, highlighting the inequality of overproduction – particularly in the global majority – and the overconsumption of highly marketable products. Earth Overshoot Day, which measures per-capita consumption against global biocapacity, has shifted from 2 August 2023 to 25 July 2024. This day marks when humanity exhausts the Earth's yearly capacity to regenerate resources. The seven-day shift signifies an unsustainable rate of ecological depletion, surpassing the planet's annual replenishment capacity by 75%. From Earth Overshoot Day onward, humanity effectively relies on borrowed ecological capital.
