From 24 to 25 October 2017 the workshop “Prototyping Intervention!”, which is organized by the Munich Center for Technology in Society (MCTS) of the Technical University of Munich (TUM), will take place in Munich:
“Prototyping Intervention!” is a two-day workshop aimed to explore intervention as a form of research. The workshop seeks to bring together scientists, artists, engineers, and designers (just to name a few popular candidates) to probe and discuss different takes on intervention, and interrogate the relations between intervention and investigation.
Scholars in science and technology studies (STS) have long called for opening up alternative modes of knowing and means of intervening. Pickering (2002), for instance, promotes anti-disciplinary approaches to research, arguing: “Perhaps it is time for the long march through the institutions: the laboratory (as creative scientists, not just observers), politics, art galleries and the ashram.” Yet, it seems that most (STS) research remains distanced and detached, focusing on the traditional genres of description and explanation. What happens, if we – as researchers – commit to intervention? How to be an ‘immersed participant’ (Puig de la Bellacasa 2017) or an ‘entwined partisan’ (Thompson 2002)? Despite many calls for intervention, more concrete guides of how to perform interventions are scarce.
This workshop is devoted to getting to know, testing, and discussing intervention practices (e.g. speculative research, situated intervention, social fiction, imaginary economics) developed by inspiring people in and beyond STS. In an anti-disciplinary spirit, the format will provide space for engaging with these intervention practices in an open-minded way, encouraging participants to reimagine the roles and responsibilities of the social and cultural researcher.
The deadline for contributions (abstracts) is July 31, 2017.
Attendance of the workshop is free.
For more information on the workshop check the full Call for Participation and Contribution (PDF).