DAE Welcomes Afaina de Jong as new Head of MA Contextual Design

Afaina de Jong is an architect and researcher with a diverse practice which ranges from design and curating, to community organising and graphic design. She is an early pioneer in self-initiated architecture in the Netherlands, who describes her interest in the conditions of urban living as influenced by the experience of growing up in Amsterdam in the 80s and 90s, “when it was full of punk, squatting and grafitti“, while projecting a unique vision of the future. In an interview published by DAE, De Jong describes her work as an intersectional feminist design practice which strives to bring forth change. “We have to let go of the idea of the universal user, which is an outdated modernist idea in a time when our identities are super complex. (…) It’s important to cultivate the power of the imagination and narrative.“

As a designer, De Jong is interested in deciphering and deconstructing given contexts and questioning positions through praxis. “If we take our ‘givens’ for granted, we assume what reality is, and then don’t even see or can’t even value something that is outside of that context, because we do not have the tools for it.“

De Jong describes her vision for the Master Contextual Design as the generation of spatial awareness and public contexts, which would necessitate a revision of our positions and power as designers, and recognise the relationships between objects and space, power, identity, ecology and history.

“Once we recognise the layers that lie beneath the ‘givens’, these all start to inform the creation of new design languages.“

With a strong interest in the complex relations of people and their environments, De Jong has worked with the Japanese think tank Hakuhodo Institute of Life and Living in Tokyo, and later with Rem Koolhaas at OMA/AMO in Rotterdam. In 2005, De Jong founded the Amsterdam-based architectural agency AFARAI and followed her interest in “spaces, subcultures, identities and communities that are normally not physically represented in formal architecture“ through spatial experiments situated within the art and design world. With her practice, she works towards facilitating a more inclusive experience of space using form languages, colors, patterns and narratives which are commonly othered, while integrating theory and research.

She has been active as an educator at the Faculty of Architecture at TU Delft, The Sandberg Instituut and ARTEZ and has been a guest lecturer at Columbia University in New York, KTH in Stockholm and the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence.

Next year, De Jong will present her design research ‘The Multiplicity of Other’ at the Dutch Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale. ‘The Multiplicity of Other’ re-evaluates and reconstitutes the dominance of a single-sided perspective on the design of our everyday surroundings, identifying the rich multiform human presence as fundamental.

In conversation with Nadine Botha, De Jong says: “No matter how tight a space we are in, it is through the power of imagination that we can create a space, a context for ourselves in which we can relate to ourselves and/or to others. Therefore, I would like current and prospective students to imagine that they are boundless, as if they were free, even when constrained.”

AFAINA IN CONVERSATION WITH NADINE BOTHA

For the occasion of her appointment as new head of Contextual Design, De Jong talked to Nadine Botha about her vision on ‘contextual design’ and the relevance of reflecting on conditions, contexts and positions in order to create meaningful change. She talks to Nadine Botha about why designers need to question their givens, contexts and positions in order to create meaningful change and beauty.

“Design is one big research project into our human relations, histories and our creation of narratives.”

Nadine Botha: You trained as an architect, but describe yourself as a creative do-it-all. How have you gone from architecture to a practice that ranges from research and curating, to community, graphic and pop culture design?

Afaina de Jong: Getting into architecture was easy to be honest, as my father was an architect. Growing up in Amsterdam in the 80s and 90s, when it was full of punk, squatting and grafitti had made me fascinated in the city. By the time I graduated, however I wasn’t that interested in churning out big buildings, I was far more interested in the relation between people and their environments and how something as complex as a city influences people’s lives. Nonetheless, I worked with the Japanese think tank Hakuhodo Institute of Life and Living in Tokyo, and later with Rem Koolhaas at OMA/AMO in Rotterdam. Eventually I decided that I wanted to figure out my own path, based on my interest in spaces, subcultures, identities and communities that are normally not physically represented in formal architecture. Taking my own path has meant a lot of experimentation, and given that architecture has such a big long tradition, it was also sometimes hard to find space for these experiments. I have often found space for experiments in the art and design world, which is how my practice has evolved over the past 15 to 20 years. In my eyes, it’s still evolving and definitely not a done deal.

NB: One of your experiments was the Ultra de la Rue creative space in the Red Light District. What was your intention with this project?

AJ: The space actually started in 2012 because I wanted to create a context from which to sell my book — For The People by the People, which was a visual manifesto about how people influence the development of the city. Perhaps now it wouldn’t look that strange to see a creative space/gallery in that area, but at the time my fellow architects and designers didn’t understand what I was doing in the Red Light District, and the people in the Red Light District didn’t understand the design language of the interior, so it was an interesting crossover point. It taught me a lot about how certain groups create and negotiate certain spaces, and how community is created in rapidly gentrifying areas. This is now also feeding into my installation at the Venice Architecture Biennale.

NB: You are presenting The Multiplicity of the Other in the Dutch Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale, which has been postponed to next year. Is it frustrating to be kept on tenterhooks like that?

AJ: A lot of people are experiencing insecurity, but at the same time I also feel that the work is gaining even more traction. The pavilion responds to the biennale theme — How will we live together? — by asking who is the ‘we’? My work in particular questions whether only designers and the design cannon should be answering this question, by looking to people and knowledges who have been other-ed and devalued. My design research contribution, called The Multiplicity of Other, also includes a performance space called Space of Other, which is a very colourful, graphic and flowing space that distinguishes itself from the very white and ‘rational’ aesthetic of the Dutch Pavilion. Here I will invite different performers, thinkers and do-ers to have performances and gatherings to explore different ideas, methodologies, values and knowledges to explore how we can arrive at a design paradigm that has multiplicity as a basis in contrast to the current dominant design paradigm.

NB: It would seem then that both this performative installation and Ultra de la Rue are contexts that you have designed through which to perform design research?

AJ: Yes, I’m very interested in context. Of course, architects always ask what the context is, but I’ve always wondered what that really means, because we often pick the given context. The given context is the context where we feel comfortable. So, as a designer, I’m very interested in deciphering and deconstructing those givens and questioning our positions through praxis. Not only because we don’t always realise the privileged position from which we are designing, but because without being aware of our givens, we can’t be sure how much we really understand. If we take our givens for granted, we assume what reality is, and then don’t even see or can’t even value something that is outside of that context, because we do not have the tools to. To make better designs, we need better understanding, and not in a quantitative sense but in a qualitative sense. Design is one big research project into our human relations, our human histories and our creation of narratives.

NB: How does your interest in context then inform your vision for the Contextual Design Masters?

AJ: I have been teaching for a long time now at numerous institutions, but I am thrilled to in bring my perspective into shaping the Contextual Design Master. In particular, together with the teachers and students, I would like to explore the spatial context of design more — not in the sense that everyone has to become architects, but in recognising that the spatial and the public is where we as people come together and engage with each other. In becoming aware of the spatial and public context of design, we need to become more aware of our positions and power as designers, and recognise the layers of relationships between objects and space, power, identity, ecology and history. Once we recognise the number of layers that lie beneath the givens, these all start to inform the creation of new design languages. I’m very interested in discovering patterns and languages, and consequently design as a tool to explore the layers of languages, giving new meanings to words, making new words, and creating new design through new words. In order to unearth layers and new languages, we need to restore value in knowledges and practices that may have become avoided or disvalued.

NB: Design languages and aesthetics go hand in hand, and aesthetics has become one of the hallmarks of the Contextual Design graduates. What is the role of beauty in design?

AJ: I love beauty. I think it’s a great language to have people open up, but at the same time we’re living in a time where everything is politicised. So beautiful things also need to have a conversation with each other, and be part of the larger conversation that we’re all having with each other as a whole society. In other words, beauty can also be more of a tool than the essence of a design. Of course, the question of what beauty is, is also important. For the most part, what beauty is, is something that was handed over to us — I was educated in a way that taught us to make beautiful buildings, and that beautiful buildings were, for instance, what Le Corbusier made. Now we are seeing for instance Solange and Beyonce completely challenge previously held ideals of fashion, beauty and even architecture. This is why it is important for designers to challenge their givens, contexts and positions.

NB: You describe your practice as intersectional feminist architecture. What does the political mean in design terms?

AJ: I don’t even see myself as a political designer or even an activist, but it’s important for me as an individual and as a designer to figure out my position and how I relate to what’s going on in the world. As designers we cannot avoid this – after all, it’s affecting everyone we are designing for. For me an intersectional feminist practice means that I engage in a design practice that wants to bring forth change. Essentially I am still designing public buildings, exhibitions and objects, but I hope to influence how people perceive and experience design and the underlying ideas by the way that I design them. We have to let go of this idea of the universal user, which is an outdated modernist idea in a time when our identities are super complex. At the same time, I really believe that we shouldn’t lose our essence, and that it’s important to cultivate the power of the imagination and narrative. No matter how tight a space we are in, it is through the power of imagination that we can create a space, a context for ourselves in which we can relate to ourselves and/or to others. Therefore I would like current and prospective students to imagine that they are boundless, as if they are free, even when constrained.

MA Contextual Design

The Master Contextual Design is one of five master programs at Design Academy Eindhoven, and was established in 2010. This two-year masters is structured around intensive workshops and mentoring sessions with design tutors, alongside presentations by guest critics and lecturers. At the end of the first year, students develop a research question that will inform their second-year thesis work and graduation project. The Master in Contextual Design recognises design as a way of reflecting on the world, as a practice of cultural critique. The artistic talents and experiences of students are the fertile starting points for observing, researching and questioning the world, as they ensure a genuine personal commitment.