As a queer intersectional feminist platform, Futuress strives to be a home for the people, histories, and perspectives that have been—and still often remain—underrepresented, oppressed, and ignored.
News & Collaborations
As a queer, intersectional feminist platform, building alliances is key to us. Check out our latest collaborations and partnerships!
![“A Critical Statement” by Sophie Thurner republished by the WOMAN OPEN TECH LAB!](/content/images/2024/07/News44-sophie.png)
“A Critical Statement” by Sophie Thurner republished by the WOMAN OPEN TECH LAB!
First published on Futuress in February 2022, “A Critical Statement” calls out exclusive and extractivist structures within design education and asks: “will the solution to a design problem actually be not designing?”. Sophie Thurner’s piece has now been translated into Korean and republished by the Seoul-based feminist community WOMAN OPEN TECH LAB! Their regularly published FEM TECH TALK zine broadens perspectives on technology and tech culture. The fourth Issue focuses on “design” as the area and activities intervening in lives and society under the theme of “Good Intent Behind.”
![Futuress featured in the debut issue of Troublemakers Magazine](/content/images/2024/06/News41.png)
Futuress featured in the debut issue of Troublemakers Magazine
We are honored to be part of the very first issue of the Tokyo-based independent magazine Troublemakers! In September 2023, Troublemaker co-founders Manami Inoue and Yuto Miyamoto visited us in Basel, Switzerland to speak about Futuress’ journey. Now, the first issue has been printed, including interviews with Remy Nitta, Osaka-based American trans woman; Maya Sekine, Japanese indigenous people Ainu culture advocate; and Irish singer-songwriter Christian Cohle. It also includes Tamara Eckhardt’s photo documentary following the Travellers Irish minority, and Japanese artist Taro Karibe’s essay on his depersonalization. You can pre-order the magazine via troublemakers.me!
Troublemakers team: Editor: Yuto Miyamoto; Art Director: Manami Inoue; English Translation: Julia Mio Inuma, Nikki Tsukamoto Kininmonth; English Proofreading: Susie Krieble
![Futuress showcased at Ravisius Textor, France!](/content/images/2024/04/News40.png)
Futuress showcased at Ravisius Textor, France!
Futuress was featured in the exhibition, reading room, and public program “Voltolo—all-around education in contemporary graphic design practices.” Curated by designer Alexandru Balgiu, the show was held at Ravisius Textor from February 10-25, 2024. Voltolo presented collaborative, circular, and experimental educational adventures in contemporary graphic design. Self-organized and collective, operating outside or inside institutions, from physical embodied locations or broadcasting from a dematerialized platform—the presented projects all aimed to transform and reinvent their contexts to directly accommodate educational needs. They offered tools for learning and emancipating, while demonstrating graphic design as an open practice of research and transmission of information and poetry.
![Launching Design Educators* Unite—a lecture series sharing feminist practices from within](/content/images/2024/01/News38.jpg)
Launching Design Educators* Unite—a lecture series sharing feminist practices from within
We are thrilled to share the launch of our latest online learning initiative, Design Educators* Unite—a program specifically crafted for design educators, researchers, and students, aiming to explore feminist practices from within.
Spanning between February and June 2024, it comprises seven online lectures and a roundtable discussion. Hosting Auge FADU, Cherrypye, Elizabeth Chin, Layla Gharib, Harper B. Keenan, Sloan Leo Cowan, Ramia Mazé, Clara Meliande, Nina Mühlemann, and Josefina Vidal, the sessions delve into a diverse array of topics, including trans pedagogies, decolonizing design, institutional life, histories of design education, community and student organizing, queering design, killjoy design pedagogy, disability justice, and more!
![Etceteras festival—a collaboration immersing into feminist design and publishing!](/content/images/2024/05/News42_etceteras.png)
Etceteras festival—a collaboration immersing into feminist design and publishing!
October 2023 was all about the long-awaited and fantabulous in-person event etceteras— feminist festival of design and publishing in Porto, Portugal! Over the course of three days, etceteras immersed in feminist publishing practices, dove into researching, editing, and writing exercises, and discussed the politics of translation through various lectures, workshops, movies, and an international book fair! We enjoyed meeting so many of you—in person, finally! Etceteras was curated by Isabel Duarte, Maya Ober, and Nina Paim, with Geanine Escobar as executive producer. The festival was co-produced by the Porto-based association Calote Esférica and Futuress.
![On-site and online—creating spaces to meet and learn](/content/images/2023/07/News_Labs.png)
On-site and online—creating spaces to meet and learn
Thanks to Switzerland’s Culture Department of Kanton Basel-City, we’ve secured a generous grant for a brand new edition of monthly Futuress Tutorials and Let’s Talk events! Until October 2024, the Futuress *!LABS!* we will offer a mix of online and in-person activities, and of course, our learning programs will be absolutely free and open to everyone. The exciting roster of events kicks off in Basel from September 2023 onwards.
![We are heartbroken and excited at the same time as we say Hello and Goodbye](/content/images/2023/06/News_Team.png)
We are heartbroken and excited at the same time as we say Hello and Goodbye
Life throws curveballs, and Futuress’ financial struggles and the recession have also impacted our team members, who freelance for Futuress, alongside juggling their other jobs and family commitments.
With a heavy heart, we have to bid farewell to our beloved co-founder and co-director Nina Paim. We are deeply grateful to Nina for pouring her heart and soul into Futuress and for steering this ship through some amazing journeys!
Luckily, it’s not all doom and gloom! We do have an exciting silver lining to share as well: Nina is embarking on a fantastic new endeavor—she’s opening a bookstore publisher in Porto, Portugal! So it’s not a goodbye, but rather a heartfelt “see you soon” to Nina. We’re here cheering for her every step of the way, and we’ll be sure to keep you posted on her new project!
As we go through this period of transition, we’re thrilled to welcome Mio Kojima as our new co-director! Mio has been with Futuress since the beginning, and this platform wouldn’t be what it is today without her incredible contributions as managing editor and curator of the Let’s Talk series. We’re beyond excited to work with Mio more closely, bringing her passion and dedication to the task at hand!
![A collective rewriting of design history with publisher Onomatopee](/content/images/2024/01/NL_Aug_2.jpg)
A collective rewriting of design history with publisher Onomatopee
As part of the “Resistance Stories of Design” workshop co-organized by publisher Onomatopee, curator Cecilia Casabona, and Futuress, five designers, researchers, and activists came together from March to May 2023 to rewrite design history. Weaving textual and audio-visual narratives rooted in their personal and collective memories, Iskander Guetta, Iany Gayo, Florencia Fontenla, Aditi Ruiz, and Napisa Leelasuphapong dove into the deeply political meanings of everyday artifacts, sharing their stories of resistance to extractivist practices, gendered violence, and the dichotomy of craft and design. Their texts have been published in a riso-printed zine titled “HistoricALL! A collective rewriting of design history” as part of the HistoricALL! project by Onomatopee and are available online on Futuress.
Curator and coordinator of HistoricALL!: Cecilia Casabona
Workshop leader: Maya Ober
![A Futuress workshop: Unveiling resistance stories with publisher Onomatopee](/content/images/2023/05/News3.jpg)
A Futuress workshop: Unveiling resistance stories with publisher Onomatopee
To explore possibilities for re-writing design history, the Dutch publisher Onomatopee has organized six HISTORICALL! workshops, one of them facilitated by our very own Futuress co-director Maya Ober. We’ve gathered an international line-up including Iskander Guetta, Iany Gayo, Florencia Fontenla, Aditi Ruiz, and Napisa Leelasuphapong. Each participant is seeking resistance stories of industrial design through educational projects, popular initiatives, object stories, local materials, and more.
![For Us, With Us, By U—a collaboration centering stories from the SWANA region!](/content/images/2023/05/News2.jpg)
For Us, With Us, By U—a collaboration centering stories from the SWANA region!
How can Southwest Asian and North African (SWANA) designers, educators, and researchers imagine transnational identities beyond Western worldviews? This is one of the core questions driving For Us, With Us, By Us—لنا، عنّا، معنا, a bilingual program curated by Mayar El Bakry, Noureldin Ahmed, Randa Hadi, Sherine Salla, Nada Ezzeldin, and Sohaila Khaled in collaboration with Archief Cairo, cifrcifrcifr, and Futuress. While the first two roundtables took place online, the series closed in May with an in-person event in Cairo, Egypt.
![Futuress at the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg](/content/images/2023/05/News.jpg)
Futuress at the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg
“The F*word—Guerrilla Girls and Feminist Graphic Design” covers a vast range of media, styles, discourses, and contexts in which feminist graphic design has made its mark. The exhibition asks: How are (in)visibilities created? What structural conditions need to be examined and questioned? And which artistic positions and themes should be included in the museum’s collection in the future? With exhibits from 1870 to the present day, the group encompasses some 400 works from film, theater and political posters, magazine and book covers, flyers, advertisements, type design, and historical ornamental engravings—with Futuress as one of them! The show is on display at the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg, Germany until September 17, 2023. (Image: Detail of the exhibition, photo by Henning Rogge)
![A small Futuress satellite in Winterthur](/content/images/2022/12/News37.jpg)
A small Futuress satellite in Winterthur
For a few hours on November 26, 2022, Futuress unfolded in a real space! Yes, a physical space! Futuress co-director Nina Paim and long-standing Futuress ally Noemi Parisi hosted a workshop on the self-publishing of feminist zines in Winterthur, Switzerland. The workshop explored one of the oldest examples of feminist publishing in Switzerland: “Emanzipation,” which circulated for over 20 years between 1975 and 1996. As we analyzed the historical documents, we examined the themes, struggles, battles, and victories that affected Swiss feminists in the past. The workshop marked the start of the exhibition “The Bigger Picture: Design–Women–Society,” which takes place from November 2022 until May 2023.
Subscribe to our newsletter!
As a queer intersectional feminist platform, Futuress strives to be a home for the people, histories, and perspectives that have been—and still often remain—underrepresented, oppressed, and ignored.
![What can we do better? Share your thoughts!](/content/images/2022/12/News35.jpg)
What can we do better? Share your thoughts!
We reach out to you—our fabulous Futuress community—for your advice and insights. How can Futuress continue to flourish and become financially sustainable? Let us know what we can do better, so that we can stay in your lives for the long haul. Your opinion matters, so please take a few moments to share your thoughts and ideas via our anonymous survey: https://forms.gle/oqvrRLEjnQjgcXn68.We are eternally grateful for your help in carving out the next phase of our evolution. As we mark our second year of this amazing journey, we hope there will be many, many more years to celebrate with you!
![“Cooking with Stories” at the Arquiteturas Film Festival in Porto, Portugal](/content/images/2022/12/News34.jpg)
“Cooking with Stories” at the Arquiteturas Film Festival in Porto, Portugal
“Cooking with Stories” by Mayar El-Bakry, Maya Ober, and Romi Lee explores the tales, traditions, and rituals behind anonymously designed cooking tools. Following the preparation of dishes from the South West Asian and North African (SWANA) region, the experimental visual document highlights various “protagonist” objects, each telling a different story. As we delve into these fragments of everyday home cooking, the voices and rich diasporic narratives of people from the SWANA region—who are now immigrants in many countries throughout Europe—unfold and offer the view of a rich cultural landscape, instead of the binaries that often prevail in both design and cooking.From September 27 to October 1, 2022, the movie was featured at the Arquiteturas Film Festival in Porto, Portugal. The 9th edition of the festival focused on socially and environmentally just spatial practices.
![A new look and feel: our redesigned website!](/content/images/2022/08/News22.jpg)
A new look and feel: our redesigned website!
Since the beginning of the year, Brazilian designers Tereza Bettinardi and Lucas D’Ascenção have lent their magic to our social media presence. Their beautiful templates help us spotlight our new texts, announce events, feature projects, share book recommendations, and more. We are now expanding this visual experience: departing from a design and concept by Studio Amanda Haas, Lucas and Tereza have redesigned our entire website. Their vision is being implemented by the one and only Morgan Brown, our reliable programmer since the days when Futuress was still only a speculative library of unwritten books. (Pssst… also, by popular demand, we’ve brought our beta website back to life, and you can add your idea for a future Futuress book at library.futuress.org!) We are working vigorously behind the scenes to tidy up everything and whip it into shape, so please bear with us if you unexpectedly find any pesky 404 bugs!
![Big Bam Boom—We won a Swiss Design Award in the category of mediation!](/content/images/2022/07/News32.png)
Big Bam Boom—We won a Swiss Design Award in the category of mediation!
The multidisciplinary jury who reviewed our work was impressed by the broad range of formats and offerings, including workshops, lectures, fellowships, and of course, our beloved texts. In their words: “Futuress contributes to expanding design discourse at national and international level at a critical moment in the history of the discipline.” The award is one of the oldest and most prestigious prizes in Switzerland, and comes with a hefty check of CHF 25,000, which will go a long way towards further developing our platform! We are beyond humbled by this recognition and re-energized to keep improving. Thanks a billion to everyone who helped us reach this goal, especially Romi Lee, Tereza Bettinardi, Mayar El-Bakry, Eva Böhlen, Cherry-Ann Davis, Noemi Parisi, Heba Daghistani, Sherine Salla, and so many others who continuously support our work. Watch the short video produced specially for the occasion on our Vimeo account!
![A collaboration with the publishing platform Piseagrama!](/content/images/2022/05/News16.jpg)
A collaboration with the publishing platform Piseagrama!
We are thrilled to announce our new long-term collaboration: CROSSINGS—TRAVESSIAS. Together with the Brazilian publishing platform Piseagrama, we will be working together to translate into English a series of Afro-Brazilian, indigenous and LGBTQIA+ texts, originally published in Portuguese by Piseagrama. Founded in 2010, Piseagrama is an open-access, non-profit publishing platform, whose mission is to catalyze urgent ideas, build bridges between fields of knowledge, and bring people together to imagine possible futures in alliance with LGBTQIA+, Afro-Brazilian, indigenous, peasant, and urban resistance collectives. As a first collective effort, CROSSINGS—TRAVESSIAS has been inaugurated with Becoming Savage, an essay by Indigenous activist and educator Jerá Guarani, in which she reflects on the alarming conditions of planet Earth brought about by so-called “civilized” people. The text has originally been published in 2020 by Piseagrama.
![Our team has a new member! Welcome, Franca López Barbera!](/content/images/2022/05/news18.jpg)
Our team has a new member! Welcome, Franca López Barbera!
Our Futuress team has gone through some c-c-c-c-changes yet again! Sadly, our beloved powerhouse Cherry-Ann Davis has left Futuress to focus on her own research. Cherry has been part of Futuress almost since its inception: first as a participant of the first Troublemakers Class of 2020, and then as a crucial part of the team co-facilitating workshops and helping our fellows craft their texts—always with her joyful energy, sharp wit, and fierce grit. She will be sorely missed! We do, however, have some happy news as well—Franca López Barbera will be our new Associate Editor, shaping and refining our texts for publication with her sharp eye and love for commas. Franca is an Argentinian designer and researcher based in Berlin, and she, too, joined Futuress as a fellow in the Troublemakers Class of 2020. Since then, she has been giving lectures and publishing texts on Futuress, exploring the intersection between nature, coloniality, and ethics.
![Our new public program: Announcing upcoming lectures and panels!](/content/images/2022/07/News33.png)
Our new public program: Announcing upcoming lectures and panels!
We’re changing the way we structure our learning programs! In addition to the lecture series accompanying our fellowship program and curated under one topic, we will now offer various new formats, each focusing on a different topic within our main course: design politics. From March 2022 onwards, we will take deep-dives into various topics in our Futuress Keynotes, open the space for discussion on urgent issues in our Roundtables, and spark conversation on design teaching in our “Educators in Correspondence” format. Dedicated to opening design education to a broad audience, all events will be free of charge and published in the form of recordings and transcripts on our Futuress website! Save the date for our upcoming events: a Futuress Keynote by designer and researcher Lesley-Ann Noel, a Designers in Correspondence discussion with Tanveer Ahmed and Lauren Williams, and a Futuress Keynote by artist and designer Luiza Prado!
![“The Void” by Maya Ober republished in The Funambulist!](/content/images/2022/07/News26.jpg)
“The Void” by Maya Ober republished in The Funambulist!
The Void by Maya Ober has been republished by The Funambulist in their 40th issue! The Funambulist engages with the politics of space and bodies. Through articles, interviews, artworks, design projects, a podcast, and the bi-monthly magazine, the platform assembles an ongoing archive for anti-colonial, anti-racist, queer, and feminist struggles. The March issue “From Settler Colonial Property to Landback” deals with land as the primary object of the decolonizing struggle. From Australia, British Columbia, Palestine, Kenya, Ecuador, Alaska, the Caribbean, Turtle Island, Sudan, and Pakistan, the issue looks at settler colonial land dispossession and political strategies to reassert Indigenous sovereignties. In “The Void,” Maya Ober explores the void of feminist Yiddish publications in Polish archives, reflecting on the frictions between feminist values and Zionism as a colonialist and racist ideology.
![“South is Up” by Sherine Salla in the Sign Design Society’s Newsletter!](/content/images/2022/07/News25.jpg)
“South is Up” by Sherine Salla in the Sign Design Society’s Newsletter!
How do maps represent the world? What ontologies lie behind the seemingly objective design of world maps, and how can the world be imagined otherwise? These are some of many questions that Sherina Salla addresses in South is Up—On subjective worlds, alternative Earths, and map projections. In her text, Sherine looks at various world maps, from 12th-century Arabic maps based on oral tradition, to Medieval European cartography informed by the centering of Christianity, to contemporary explorations of bringing the earth’s spherical body to the flat surface of a map. We are very excited that the piece got republished as “Contemplations about map orientations” in the February newsletter of the Sign Design Society! The Sign Design Society is a platform that focuses on the design of information, and offers talks and publications across various disciplines includingtypography, products, architecture, translation technology, and mapping.
Feminism. Design. Politics. Where these three intersect, you will find Futuress.
![Feminism. Design. Politics. Where these three intersect, you will find Futuress.](/content/images/size/w1000/2023/11/ad.png)
![Futuress mapped in the ARCH+ magazine!](/content/images/2022/12/News28.png)
Futuress mapped in the ARCH+ magazine!
Issue 246 of ARCH+, Germany’s leading magazine for discourse in the fields of architecture and urbanism, is dedicated to contemporary feminist spatial practices. The issue examines how different practices can address the lived experiences of marginalized and invisibilized groups. Beyond the divisions of theory, practice, and pedagogy, the magazine features those who deconstruct power relations and break down barriers. While no single issue can cover the various pioneers and current initiatives that are all noteworthy, part of this issue aims to highlight a significant portion of these with a map that complements the positions presented in the interviews and articles. The map was created as part of the research for the issue, and brings together a selection of important feminist positions and practices from the Western hemisphere. Next to our role models Audre Lorde and bell hooks, Futuress and depatriarchise design are mapped as well—what an honor!
![“The Dark Side of Pictograms” by Mujgan Abdulzade republished in Femiskop!](/content/images/2022/07/News31.jpeg)
“The Dark Side of Pictograms” by Mujgan Abdulzade republished in Femiskop!
The 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan were preceded by a series of racist and sexist outrages. These incidents revealed how profoundly sports are embedded in oppressive body norms and a binary notion of gender. The Dark Side of Pictograms by Mujgan Abdulzade explores how these multiple systems of oppression are perpetuated in sports—particularly in the Olympics—and how these conceptions are reflected and manifested through pictograms. In December, Mujgan’s article was republished in Femiskop, a platform co-founded by four women from Azerbaijan. The collective aims to create feminist content in the Azerbaijani language, amplifying the voices of Azeri feminists, and unifying its audience through common views and struggles. Their articles and research dissect how different forms of oppression affect our society.
![Celebrating together: A Futuress end-of-the-year dinner](/content/images/2022/05/News15.jpg)
Celebrating together: A Futuress end-of-the-year dinner
On December 4, our tight-knit community around Basel gathered to celebrate together our pan-religious Futuress Hannukkah—Day of Iansã—Xmas—End of the Year meal. The dinner honored our different cultures and culinary genealogies, with a broad array of dishes originating from the Brazilian coast, through the islands of Trinidad and Tobago, enriched with the flavors of the Ashkenazi diaspora, and topped off with Western Asian relish, and scrumptious delicacies akin to the palate of Japanese food stalls. Thank you to everyone who joined and shared these beautiful moments of being together in real life (IRL)—away from our usual barriers of screens—and in particular, we extend thanks to Gabriela Aquije Zegarra and the Food Culture Lab for their hospitality!
![“Does Design Care” by Cherry-Ann Davis and Nina Paim in A Line Which Forms A Volume #5!](/content/images/2022/07/News24.jpg)
“Does Design Care” by Cherry-Ann Davis and Nina Paim in A Line Which Forms A Volume #5!
A Line Which Forms A Volume #5 explores how the act of leaning on, with, and into a research topic can be regarded as a form of care for the complexities of contemporary society. It approaches the idea of leaning from a particular perspective: the encounter between care and radical transparency in design research. Alongside Bryony Quinn, Intersections of Care, Ramon Tejada, and the participants of the MA Graphic Media Design course at London College of Communication, U.K. Futuress was delighted to contribute to this publication! Does Design Care? was first published in Alter-Care, the 2021 Porto Design Biennale journal, then republished online on our Futuress website, and now it has been reprinted in the 5th issue of ALWFAV! In the text, Cherry-Ann Davis and Nina Paim examine the role of the term “care” in the design field and why, under its benign banner, design sometimes inflicts more harm to the communities it wishes to elevate.
![We are in Milan! The L.i.P Collective exhibited at HARD COPY SOFT TOUCH.](/content/images/2022/05/News14.jpg)
We are in Milan! The L.i.P Collective exhibited at HARD COPY SOFT TOUCH.
Our colorful Feminist Findings zine by the L.i.P. Collective has been touring the globe and speaking new languages! It was recently on display at the “Hard Copy Soft Touch” exhibition in Milan, Italy! Each of the involved realities in the exhibition has a peculiar approach to the subject of the archive and how it feeds and evolves depending on the collaborations, contributions, and methods of access and interaction with the public between offline/online dimensions. On display with Futuress were Archivo de la Memoria Trans from Aregntina, Centro di Documentazione Aldo Miel from Carrarai, Compulsive Archive from Milano, Queer Reads Library from Hong Kong, and Queer.Archive.Work. from Providence, and many more.The exhibition was part of the independent publishers and art book salon SPRINT21 at Spazio Maiocchi and ran from November 26-28, 2021.
![Feminist Findings in Korea! A collaboration with Platform P.](/content/images/2022/05/News13.jpg)
Feminist Findings in Korea! A collaboration with Platform P.
Futuress was born from a desire to think and practice design “otherwise.” Our first workshop, the L.i.P. Collective, was the fuse that sparked our model of mixing collective learning and publishing, which premiered with our colorful zine Feminist Findings. In 2020, the L.i.P. collective stories have not only made their way to our website, but went far beyond, thanks to our growing, globally dispersed community. We are thrilled to announce that Feminist Findings has just been translated to Korean, and now exists as a striking Hangul publication! Behind this amazing feat is a large team led by the brilliant In-An Shin of the Feminist Designer Social Club. 페미니스트 파인딩스 was on display from November 16 to December 23 2021 at Platform P in Seoul, where you could not only read our stories, but also browse through a collection of original periodicals researched by the L.i.P., including Chrysalis, Courage, Sinister Wisdom, and more!
![Together we are stronger! depatriarchise design and Futuress have merged!](/content/images/2022/05/News12.jpg)
Together we are stronger! depatriarchise design and Futuress have merged!
depatriarchise design and Futuress have been steady collaborators for a long time. Even before the Diversity Issues text and the Coding Resistance Fellowship, our two platforms have been supporting each other in being the killjoys of design. After many long coffees, emergency venting calls, and books gifted and exchanged, it became clear that we share the same goal, which is—to echo the words of adrienne maree brown: “shaping the future we long for and have not yet experienced.” Knowing that feminist work is first and foremost a collective endeavor, we decided to permanently join forces to connect and amplify intersecting communities. So… drumroll, please! As of October 2021, Futuress is now run by the non-profit association depatriarchise design, based in Basel, Switzerland. Maya Ober and Nina Paim share the role of co-directors, a decision meant to institute dialogue, difference, and care into the daily practice of steering the Futuress ship.
![“The power of Identity”—Mio and Mujgan speaking at the Weltformat Festival, Luzern!](/content/images/2022/05/News11.jpg)
“The power of Identity”—Mio and Mujgan speaking at the Weltformat Festival, Luzern!
Futuress was invited to speak at the 2021 Weltformat Graphic Design Festival in Luzern! Under the panel theme “The Power of Identity,” Futuress, alongside Clara Balaguer and Charlotte Rhode, gave insights into how the private, the personal, and the professional intertwine in their practice. We were excited to open up the stage for personal experiences from the community, emphasizing the power of sharing space: Mujgan Abdulzade and Mio Kojima represented the community in presence, giving insight into how Futuress transformed research into an activist practice and created space for sharing vulnerabilities. Sherine Salla, Heba Daghistani and Noemi Parisi took part in the form of video contributions, talking about embracing subjectivity, falling in love with design again, and finding a community to change the canon together. The presentation can be rewatched on our Instagram.
![“Dreams of Contra-Colonial Futures”: Futuress x 2021 AIGA Conference!](/content/images/2022/06/News21.jpg)
“Dreams of Contra-Colonial Futures”: Futuress x 2021 AIGA Conference!
In an age of climate catastrophe and social reckoning, dreams and imagination are more important than ever. This is what inspired Dreams of Contra-Colonial Futures: a Futuress-curated symposium within the 2021 AIGA Conference. Moderated by Nina Paim and Cherry-Ann Davis, the program brought together four members of the Futuress community who connected through our past fellowship Against the Grain, a space to critically reflect on the designed past and the pastness of design. Lauren Williams spoke about making room for abolition and imagining a world without police and prisons. Javier Syquia questioned the term “Vernacular Design” in relation to designs from post-colonial, non-Euro American contexts. Zainab Marvi explored the concept of the feminist city by investigating women’s use of public transport in Karachi, Pakistan. Finally, Naïma Ben Ayed imagined alternatives for multi-script type design education in the North African context.
![“Here We Are!” Futuress at the Vitra Design Museum](/content/images/2022/05/News10.jpg)
“Here We Are!” Futuress at the Vitra Design Museum
Futuress was part of the “Here We Are!” exhibition, which celebrated women designers from the past 120 years. The show at the Vitra Design Museum was curated by Viviane Stappmanns, Nina Steinmüller, and Susane Graner, and it told “a many-voiced story of design against the background of the struggle for equal rights and recognition.” Around 80 women in design are showcased in the exhibition, including protagonists of modernism like Eileen Gray, Charlotte Perriand, Clara Porset, and Jeanne Toussaint; business leaders like Florence Knoll and Armi Ratia; and also lesser-known figures like the social reformer Jane Addams. Futuress is featured in the last, future-oriented section of the exhibition, titled “Change The System,” next to contemporary positions such as Matri-Archi(tecture). The exhibition was on display at the Vitra Design Museum from September 23 until March 6, 2022.
![Creating anti-hegemonic networks: Futuress nominated for the 2021 Swiss Design Awards!](/content/images/2022/05/News9.jpg)
Creating anti-hegemonic networks: Futuress nominated for the 2021 Swiss Design Awards!
Futuress was nominated for this year’s Swiss Design Awards, and invited to present our work in the form of an exhibition. But how can we present the intangible work of a transnational feminist platform for design politics? And how to do it specifically in the context of a design prize that has historically foregrounded abstract and problematic notions such as “merit,” “quality,” and “good design”? Our solution: we used the chance to come together as a community and claim space, being the killjoys of design that we are. Together, we tagged, graffitied, and drew—while dancing and laughing a lot. Our wall was messy, imperfect, and rebellious—just like us! But it was also beautiful, full of joy and a lust for life. In the end, we didn’t win the prize, but we won the hearts of many who stopped by! On the last Friday of the exhibition, we were joined by Naomi Samake and Ana Santos from the Racial Justice Student Collective for an open discussion on anti-hegemonic networks, moderated by our friend Jonas Berthod.
![Critical conversations: A collaboration with A Line Which Forms a Volume!](/content/images/2022/07/News23.jpg)
Critical conversations: A collaboration with A Line Which Forms a Volume!
Futuress had the pleasure to re-publish some of the text from the past issue of A Line Which Forms a Volume! The publication is a critical reader and symposium of graphic design-led research that is edited, written, designed, and published by participants of the MA Graphic Media Design course at London College of Communication, U.K. Issue #4 approaches the topic of decoloniality and the constructed borders of the design canon. It asks: “What are the boundaries that graphic design exists within?” Dive into the conversation with Clara Balaguer, and learn why using open-source programs entails a privilege in Learning from the Vernacular by Rhys Atkinson. Explore how Lucas LaRochelle queers artificial intelligence in Queer Dreams of an A.I. by Riccardo Righi, and follow Yu Jiwon as she talks about the representation of Asian Design in the West in The Interlocality of Typography by Rachel So Dam Jung!
![Does Design Care? Futuress at the Porto Design Biennale!](/content/images/2022/05/News7.jpg)
Does Design Care? Futuress at the Porto Design Biennale!
Could design be reimagined as a care practice? This question lies at the core of Alter-Care, a journal edited by Cherry-Ann Davis and Nina Paim, on behalf of Futuress for the 2021 Porto Design Biennial. Acknowledging the violent colonial entanglements of Portugal, the duo populated the issue with the ideas of Brazilian designers, artists, curators, and thinkers who are deeply committed to inclusivity, participation, and collaboration: Zoy Anastassakis and Marcos Martins wrote about their experience of co-directing ESDI, the Industrial Design University in Rio de Janeiro; in a long-form interview, curator Keyna Eleison discusses the violence embedded in Eurocentric notions of care; Indigenous artist and designer Denilson Baniwa imagined how Rio would look through forest regeneration—interweaving existing infrastructure and Indigenous knowledge—and finally, the editors Cherry-Ann and Nina co-wrote Does Design Care? problematizing design’s recent interest in care!
![Collectively addressing contemporary social issues: Troublemakers Class of 2020 in GRAPHIC Magazine #47!](/content/images/2022/05/News6.jpg)
Collectively addressing contemporary social issues: Troublemakers Class of 2020 in GRAPHIC Magazine #47!
Issue #47 of the South Korean magazine GRAPHIC brings together several projects by designers, design researchers, and artists concerned with contemporary social issues around social, spatial, and climate justice. They invited 10 teams to convey their research from different angles and areas, including MMS, Klasse Klima, and Futuress, among others. Each was given 16 pages to present their work. Some contributed a report, a chronology, or diary; others showcased transcripted talks, interviews, and even coloring books. Futuress contributed a preview of the Troublemakers Class of 2020 in the form of an extended content page. The contributions and essays by the various teams are not bound together. Instead, they were collected separately as brochures and flyers inside a box—a gesture that reflects the sharp rise in the use of postal services due to the coronavirus pandemic.
![A new lecture series: A collaboration with Centre Culturel Suisse Paris!](/content/images/2022/05/News5.jpg)
A new lecture series: A collaboration with Centre Culturel Suisse Paris!
“Pandemics do not materialize in isolation,” Edna Bonhomme, a historian of science, has rightly pointed out. “They are part and parcel of capitalism and colonization.” A crisis brings to light the hidden cracks in a system, something particularly true for the cultural sector, which has been highly affected by COVID-19. Organized by Futuress and the Centre culturel suisse Paris, the lecture series “Making and Unmaking Exhibitions” aims to critically address the impact of the climate crisis within the museums, galleries and other exhibition contexts. Understanding that sustainability means the concerted effort towards climate, spacial, and social justice, we’ve invited practitioners from different cultural backgrounds to share their varied perspectives. This includes Dhaka Art Summit curator Diana Campbell Betancourt, MAM-Rio artistic co-director Keyna Eleison, Bangladeshi architect Inteza Shariar, Swiss artist Ramaya Tegegne, and Australian museum scholar Fiona Cameron, amongst others. The full program can be watched online, and will later appear as texts on Futuress.