Vernacular thinking workshop

‘The Vernacular Thinking Workshop’ was developed during the Stifung Kunstlerdorf Schoppingen Residency. The workshop proposed exercises of imagining and designing to help explore the idea of vernacular thinking and vernacular strategies for approaching technology. These strategies subvert existing politics of technology that favor material and intellectual resources. At the same time, during the workshop, we were thinking about models of connection with other animals, where speculative tools like ‘spiral nut collector’ could be used to support environmental well-being.

We started the workshop by drawing numbats without recalling their exact appearance, allowing participants to come up with imaginative interpretations. The final task was to design a ‘vernacular tool’ that could benefit both our imagined numbats and humans in a shared environment. This path allowed us to approach speculative design through empathy.

The workshop scenario was based on publications ‘Captivating Technology‘ by Ruha Benjamin, and Rambunctious Garden by Emmy Marris.