Disobedient Electronics: Protest (Hertz, 2016) is a limited edition publishing project that highlights confrontational work from industrial designers, electronic artists, hackers and makers from 10 countries that disobey conventions. Topics include the wage gap between women and men, the objectification of women's bodies, gender stereotypes, wearable electronics as a form of protest, robotic forms of protest, counter-government-surveillance and privacy tools, and devices designed to improve an understanding of climate change.
1. Building electronic objects can be an effective form of social argument or political protest. 2. DIY, maker culture and local artisinal productions can have strong nationalist and protectionist components to them - in some senses, populism can be seen as the rise of the DIY non-expert. 3. Critical and Speculative Design (Dunne & Raby) are worthwhile approaches within industrial design, but perhaps not adversarial enough to reply to contemporary populist right-wing movements (Brexit, Trump & Le Pen). Questions like “Is it moral to punch Nazis in the face?” should be answered with smart alternatives to violence that are provocative pieces of direct action. 4. If we are living in a post-truth time, we should focus on trying to make progressive arguments and facts more legible and engaging to a wide and diverse audience. 5. The fad of ‘Maker Culture’ is over. Arduinos and 3D printers are fascinating things, but the larger issues of what it means to be a human or a society needs to be directly confronted.
CONTENTS
Introduction • G. Hertz /// Abortion Drone • Women on Waves & Collaborators /// The 79% Work Clock • J. Carreiro of PARTY New York /// A Piece of the Pie Chart • A. Rüst /// PeriodShare • M. Søndergaard & L. Hansen /// Mixed Messages Bra • J. Hansen /// Blinkini • N. Wu /// Home Surgery Instructions • Barbie Liberation Organization /// The Knitted Radio • E. Kurbak & I. Posch /// Probots • C. Csikszentmihalyi, V. Aguiar & V. Azevedo /// Backslash • P. Olivera & X. Chen /// BIT Rocket • Bureau of Inverse Technology /// Robotic Graffiti Writer • Institute for Applied Autonomy /// Dissenting Jabots • J. Liu & C. Baumann-Jaeger /// CRAF • T. Sawangdee & E. Ishikawa /// Improvised Empathetic Device • M. Kenyon & D. Easterly /// Gun Control • S. Kildall /// Campus Carry Doorbell • SP&CE Media Lab /// The Transparency Grenade • J. Oliver /// THERO • R. Torre & Á. Angulo /// Integrated Entropic Sanitization • M. Klapman /// Phantom Kitty • N. MacAloney /// Device for the Emancipation of the Landscape • M. Walker /// Solar Cooker • S. Kuznetsov, S. Chung & S. Puthenpurakkal /// What if Artifacts Had a Different Sort of Politics • L. Forlano
