The Texts 


The following texts have been chosen as starting points for experiments, derives, transformations, translations and misinterpretations. They are provocations, intended to confront common assumptions and open up possibiliites when put into conversation with the discipline of design.  



Tactical Publishing: Using Senses, Software, and Archives in the Twenty-First Century
Alessandro Ludovico

Tactical Publishing explores the evolving landscape of publishing in an age shaped by digital technology, automation, and shifting cultural values. It challenges traditional ideas of authorship, archives, and distribution, proposing publishing as an experimental, hybrid, and socially engaged practice. By examining how human and machine interactions, sensory experiences, and networked systems transform the production of knowledge, it invites a critical rethinking of what publishing can be.

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What is post-branding? How to Counter Fundamentalist Marketplace Semiotics
Oliver Vodeb, Jason Grant

What is post-branding? is a critical reimagining of how collective identities are communicated beyond corporate branding’s market-driven logic. This concept challenges the pervasive influence of branding in shaping culture and identity, advocating for alternative methods rooted in transparency, participation, and shared values. The book proposes a framework that emphasises open-source principles, participatory design, and diversity, aiming to empower civic and activist groups in crafting authentic public communications.

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The Care Manifesto:
The Politics of Interdependence
The Care Collective

The Care Manifesto calls for a radical reimagining of how care is understood and practised across society. Written by The Care Collective, the book challenges the dominance of market-driven, individualistic values and advocates for a world organised around collective well-being. It explores care at every level – from the personal to the planetary – arguing for interconnected systems that prioritise empathy, interdependence and justice. By mapping care onto political, social, economic and environmental realms, the text offers a vision of transformative structures that could sustain more equitable and nurturing communities.

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Xenofeminism:
A Politics for Alienation
Helen Hester

Xenofeminism advocates a future-oriented feminist approach embracing technology, rationalism, and alienation as catalysts for social and gender emancipation. Rejecting essentialist notions of nature, it calls for repurposing technology strategically to tackle gender inequality, economic instability, and environmental crises. The manifesto emphasises collective political action and intellectual innovation, arguing that rationalism and technological intervention are integral to feminist liberation. 

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