The Meaning in What We Do

The Meaning in What We Do

By Markus Degerman

Immediately following the National Years of Design in the Nordic region during 2005, and when everything seems to be connected to design, we are at risk of having the concept emptied of all meaning and content. When everything is design, why should we care about what the point of it is? In order to gain knowledge for the future – what values we should strive for and what paths to follow – the present dominant economic perspective on design must be given a humanistic compliment. Without dialogue and practical studies on what purpose and significance design has in our time, tomorrow’s design in the Nordic countries cannot be more than imitation.

At present, there is no Nordic platform for activities in design and architecture that works practically and attends to the relationship of design to society at large. Since art has been more closely linked to design in recent years, it has also become an unavoidable variable, in analysis and creation of values that future design may include.

During the past few years a trend has been noticed in various areas of the Nordic region where architects, designers and theorists work with design issues from a more social, humanistic perspective. This may be a reaction to the escalating depreciation to which the concept of design is being subjected. This is all too often seen in contrast to products with economic motives. Since studies of possible areas of development within design are not possible through mere market research, statistics and economic calculation, it is more productive to view this work as a necessary compliment. Analysis must cover different levels. If there is no debate concerning which values and qualities should be fostered, traditionally commercial ventures will be affected as well; lack of understanding for their contemporaries will cause them to be out of step in production. How can one create products for a world of which one has no knowledge and, if design has been
emptied of all purpose, how can one succeed at selling it?

As part of NIFCA’s examination of artistic, aesthetic, cultural, social and political connections forming our society – NIFCA hopes to further the creation of a platform which is not available today. In the residency program Social Perspectives on Architecture and Design, the call is open for practitioners in architecture, design and the visual arts, interested in using practical applications to examine issues concerning significance, in the design that surrounds us now and that will continue to do so in the future.

The residency program has the structure of a workshop that connects those involved around a common piece of work. Participants in the residency programs will be given the opportunity to work on entries dealing with the question of what role design plays in society.


Markus Degerman is artist and curator based in Stockholm. His work as an artist often takes its point of departure in public spaces, in the way they are designed, described, and used. He also collaborates with Uglycute, a group consisting of two artists, one interior designer and one architect. Degerman works with Index, the Swedish contemporary art foundation in Stockholm.