"Bridging" design and STS: Using Winner's "Do Artifacts Have Politics?" in design theory education

• In Event: Utilizing STS Pedagogies in Design Education – I

Abstract

Langdon Winner's "Do Artifacts Have Politics?" (1980) is a seminal text in STS, offering examples of the politics and ideologies that he argues are embedded in the titular artefacts. Perhaps the most prominent and repeated example in the text is that of the overpasses on the parkways of Long Island which, in Winner’s telling, were planned with low overhead clearance in order to prevent busses from accessing certain parks and beaches. Winner's text has, over the years, sparked a cottage industry of debate, including "Do Politics Have Artefacts?" (1999) from Bernward Joerges, and "Do Artefacts Have Ambivalence?" by Woolgar and Cooper (1999). Aside from a lively debate in STS, Winner's text has a side-job in art and design, being frequently cited in prominent design journals and in sub-fields of design research concerned with morality, ethics, or user behaviour. It is also used as a text in various design schools. In this paper, we address the impact of Winner’s bridges in undergraduate design theory classes at a major Dutch art and design academy. In these classes, the text is used as a jumping-off point for discussions and projects which ask students to envision the role of politics and ideologies in their work as designers and, to varying degrees, question the ideological commitments of their disciplines through hands-on theory assignments. This paper draws on student surveys, teacher interviews, and student projects to understand Winner’s impact on student understandings of design disciplines as morally-charged or political.

Author

• ginger coons, Willem de Kooning Academy