creative disobedience

Research, Action and Waste as a Resource

Thorsten Müller

Juli / July - 2023

Hochschule der Bildenden Künste Saar

Master of Arts

Description

The concept of creative disobedience is an attempt to design a radical corrective mechanism. This has the potential to act outside the design, social or legal norm. Following Henry David Thoreau, I would like to point out that designers must do something, but not everything. And since they can’t do everything, they shouldn’t do anything wrong. I would encourage designers to be vigilant in pointing out errors and injustices. If a design process, brief or practice is such that it requires you to do something wrong to someone else, I say: Break it!
‘But resistance and defiance are illegal. Therein lies man’s salvation. All that is illegal requires integrity, independence and courage. In short, it requires free, independent spirits, people with backbones that cannot be broken.’ (Goldman 1910)