QUEER DESIGN FOR LIVING - A Cranbrook Seminar: February 2024

Course description

This seminar will surface the ways in which LGBTQ+ people and communities have impacted the ways in which mainstream American culture has been shaped by cultural production derived from thinking that challenges heteronormativity in post-World War II America until the validation of same sex marriage in 2014 Through the lenses of queer theory, evolving queer history, Since the emergence of “homosexuality” and “transsexuality” as identities in the late 19th century, queer culture has been presumed to develop in the margins of American life, ancillary to and shaped by heterosexual norms. Yet, the vast majority of queer people in the last hundred years have lived (to at least some degree) in the closet, allowing them to exist in the mainstream while maintaining a distinctly non-normative identity. Thus, to quote bell hooks, allowing them "to bring the margin into the center." In ten meetings over the course of the semester, through lectures, discussions, texts, slides, films, and video, we will explore the ways in which transformative integration of queer designs for living have occurred.

Monday, February 26, 2024

THIRTY YEARS AGO...

From 1991 to 1993 I was a student in the Cranbrook 2D Design program. I had arrived on campus directly from San Francisco, and the campus seemed like a completely different world. Back home, the AIDS epidemic was the main topic of rage and protest and concern, but here in Bloomfield Hills, it was as if it didn’t exist. Same with queer folks. And their art. I’ve never been a political person but I decided to devote at least some of my attention to filling the void. There weren’t any outside venues to show this work so, except for the Degree Exhibition, it stayed mostly within the department. And even there it received mostly a formal critique. No one wanted to touch the topic or knew how to talk about it, and I was not one to force the conversation. Above are some of the projects I created during my two years. (1) “Magic Johnson/George Bush” was a commentary on Johnson’s revealed HIV status and Congressional hearings around the matter. (2-5) A few pages from “How Can I Show You Devotion” combining photographs shot during the summer in San Francisco with a series of provocative questions: “When will satisfaction mean more to you than pride?,” “Did you think virtue would guarantee your immunity?,” “Do you believe that fear enhances passion?” (6-7) “What will (not) save you?” details from a subtler project enumerating beliefs and behaviors we imagine will keep us from harm (8-9) “Notes on the West,” two panels from my thesis project examining Western archetypes and their often private significations.

Those days were a time of urgency, a need to jolt others into awareness. I doubt I made much of a difference. After graduation, returning to San Francisco, I produced design work for a number of nonprofit queer organizations whose immediate needs were plentiful but budgets were modest. That slowly tapered off as my work moved into book and publication design and community visibility was no longer an issue for me.

My interest now is in discovering the issues that matter today among the young queer community. What compels your work in the queer space?

Tuesday, February 20, 2024

Monsoon Collector

Below are a couple of the pieces I have made at Cranbrook this year. Although my work so far has not been about queerness explicitly, it is often driven by my body and my search for autonomy and agency. Through architecture, I tend to think from a design / functional place, and have been obsessing over wearables and objects that collect and exhibit rain water.

Monsoon Collector | Prototype I

2023
recycled plastic, disassembled umbrella, waterproof fabric, elastic

The Colorado River supplies water to 40 million people across seven states and Mexico. Half of Tucson’s water supply comes from the Colorado River via 336 miles of concrete aqueducts known as the Central Arizona Project (CAP). Years of drought and over-allocation of water have depleted the water supply from Lake Mead and Lake Powell. In 2023 Arizona, California, and Nevada have agreed to cut 10% of their water allocation, and continual cuts are inevitable. As populations continue to grow in an uncertain climate future it is imperative that individuals learn to collect, store, and recycle their own water supply.

Tucson’s annual rainfall equals 144% of Tucson’s annual water demand.
The future of Arizona water is HYPER LOCAL.

See website and more photos here

Monsoon Collector | Prototype 3

2024
recycled plastic, plumbing fixtures, water resistant fabric, elastic, brick, rock, cmu block, cable, hose

I have not yet written a comprehensive statement about this piece, and it has not yet made it to the website. This is another prototype for a water collector. How and where it is used is open ended at this point. As it fills with water, the collector starts to expand. As the weight increases, the less water resistant the fabric becomes.

The catchment basin was not initially an integral part of the piece, but as I began constructing the rock and rubble wall in a circle, it began to feel significant. Watering holes bring communities together. I this piece evokes an "only take what you need" vibe.

here is the video demonstration