We click, we swipe, we scroll, we look for.
We follow, we register, we log in, we give away.
We post, we like, we wait, we reload.
We search, we stare, we roam, we place order.

We are guided, we are informed, we are visualized.
We are indexed, we are analyzed, we are regulated.
We are fed, we are conditioned, we are informatized.

Are we individualizing or being individualized?
Are we consuming or being consumed?
Are we controlling or being controlled?
Are we working or being worked?
Are we living or being lived?

Are we feeling connected after all?

The artistic research project Reflective Roaming — Design, ubiquitous fantasy, everyday reality is a critical inquiry into our conditions of living and being in the relationship between the “designing” and the “designed” in the contemporary informatized everyday. In this project, design is positioned as a means to question the status quo of the technocratic promises that fundamentally shapes personal, economical and socio-political dimensions in our everyday lives. What is the consequences of being fully engaged with the technological visions presented by tech corporate institutions? How is humanity positioned in the intersection of information technology and market? What does it mean to be human in the eyes of machines and, the ones behind?

Through foregrounding the unseen technological operations by visualizing and revealing the invisible relationships between design, information economy and humanity, the research processes and the artistic outcome Human Conditions investigated our (un)willingness of being physically and emotionally digitized and informatized, the relationship between the mediated desires and the ones who drive them, and the contemporary conditions of being in the ever-expanding, networked fabrication of almost every aspect of everyday life.

Read Tang’s critical reflection here.

Assessment committee:
Professor Matt Malpass, Central Saint Martins: University of the Arts London.
Associate Professor Nicolas Nova, Geneva School of Arts and Design (HEAD – Genève).
Associate Professor Dóra Ísleifsdóttir, Faculty of Fine Art, Music and Design (KMD), University of Bergen

Supervisors:
Associate Professor Åse Huus, Faculty of Fine Art, Music and Design
Professor Carsten Friberg, Freelance Consultant

Originally from Taiwan, Albert Cheng-Syun Tang(b. 1979) is a designer specializing in communication design and has been engaging with exercising design as a critical practice in research context. Prior to his MA Design study in Bergen Academy of Art and Design(2009-2011), he had worked as a visual and industrial designer in Foxconn Technology Group in Taiwan and also engaged with cultural design projects in publishing sectors after graduating from National Yunlin University of Science and Technology with a BD degree in visual communication design. He has received some professional recognitions including, among others, the Red Dot Design Concept Award, NEU/NOW Festival, Taiwan Visual Design Golden Award, Asia-Pacific Design, International Design Awards(IDA), K-Design Award, National Geographic Photography Award, International Photography Awards and so on.