Wicked problems, wicked play

Abstract

Design methods need to reconsider ways to avoid othering messiness (or what appears to be contradictory or nonsensical) within wicked problem situations, particularly crisis sites. As such, this paper suggests that play frames (defined as Fun Machines) can be utilised as situated strategies that designers can apply to address paradoxes and contradictions. The paper presents the theoretical framework for a Fun Machine by focusing on second-generation design methods and how they facilitate conversation, while simultaneously exploring an often-neglected playful aspect of conversation that is usually found in fun-making. The applications of a Fun Machine are discussed in the historical context (Cedric Price’s Fun Palace) and with a pilot project conducted at a contemporary crisis site (Dessau).

Design Fictioning of a Second-Order Kind: Runaway Cybernetics, Futures of Work, Possibilities of Engagement

“…Biological systems, in general, compute analogically, with pattern, while the conscious mind has access to digital processes, including the possibility of negation… at whatever level it is in your mind… that the operators are stored… at that level there is no not …" (M. C. Bateson's work alludes to modes of working with information which are better at engaging transcontextual complexity. Such forms deal with meta-communication frames and invite different levels of abstraction to coexist (Perera, 2020(Perera, , 2021a. Such frameworks allow for a deeper engagement with difference within sites of disruption and question how elements in friction that fail to fall within a clear consensus framework can prevent previous consensus (hegemonic fictions) from becoming part of the present problem.…”