https://networkcultures.org/longform/2025/09/23/curb-your-enthusiasm
an extended version of a text on no design/the freedom of design (Mieke Gerritzen, Silvio Lorusso, Geert Lovink, Ned Rossiter)
“Design is coerced to embrace a narrowly defined discourse on co-creation, making, prototyping for a limited set of vague, lo-res goals like sustainability or the smart city. Better if you just shut up and find joy with the stakeholders. Discover innovation in service design thinking. Channel diversity. Model worlds. Catalyze businesses. Sandbox sensations. Pilot futures. Rewild imagination.”
“Design is meant to service society and the economy. And it is meant to shape and cultivate citizen-subjects. Economy coupled with citizenship immediately excludes. So where do you go from there? Perhaps the commercial sector is the last refuge for honing core design skills and providing a basic income that covers your living costs. Then, in the dark hours of the night you muster the energy to return to building your dream portfolio. Or maybe you just slumber in for another evening of streaming. Burnt out and hollow from the stress of the day. Fair enough.”
“Does this all mean that design as a practice receptive to uncomfortable expression and unforeseen experimentation outside the borders of compliance is all set to vanish into the nostalgic ether of modernist period-pieces or the extreme presentism of the tech and media agenda? Do we accept AI-driven tools as the engine of design production, overseen by an executive class tasked with the implementation of the latest policy directives? A weakened and docile profession has little to say about all this, neither in terms of contribution or critique.”
“Design chiefs prefer to trumpet the sound of the non-political in fear of losing future clients and customers. An empty sound. And one that’s not an option anymore. But that also goes for the hyperpolitical drum that neutralized politics by means of “everything is political.” It turns out that deeming everything radical can be a form of neutrality. Neutrality by excess, if you will. Design shouldn’t be an afterthought in the armchair of acquiescence. Scenario planning and game theory are the primary techniques of modeling the battle ground. Preemption and prediction, simulation and calculation, strategy and tactics. These are among the principle elements of play that rehearse the theatre of conflict. All assume visual and systems design strategies. After the end of future, what we are left with is the art of war.”
“We should not excuse these oppressive and boring normative regimes from serious critique. Let’s not play the victim here. We can hold a mirror up to both society and the design world, creating spaces for discussion, reflection, and ultimately, change. Subversive energies are key sources of freedom, hope, desire, and rebellion. The protestant guilt trip must end.”
“Stuck in the mud? Call it a day, regroup, and start something new. Make a decision. Say no to executive orders. Refuse to attend meetings. Conspire and come up with a surprising intervention. Reverse all signs. Feel the freedom, and never give it away. Walk on to other side and reclaim the subversive nature of aesthetics. A rich and shared visual language and vocabulary is a sign of life. Culture is not just a set of necessities, sold to you as commodities. There are no terms and conditions. It is time to question the instrumental reason of intentions and create new free spaces for experimentation and freedom to join the non-aligned.”
