Wigy:
Our first issue of the Future Reality Design (FRD) Journal is about transdisciplinary practice. 

what is transdisciplinarity to you?

Andrita:
As a material researcher who graduated from art school, then worked as an artist, then suddenly became an architect/bio-material designer, and now you've ended up working as a material researcher at Foster and Partners...

Wigy:
Changing or transcending discpiline is not esay, how did you change yourself from one identity to a new and very distinct one?

Andrita:
....






Inspired by Dunne and Raby's A/B Manifesto, where ‘A’ characterised how most people thought of design at that time, and ‘B’ suggested a set of contrasting values. We came up with a similar idea, but rather we called it ‘Now’ and ‘Future’.

Dunne and Raby's A/B manifesto in their book Speculative Everything has been proven to be a thought-provoking manifesto that changes the way today’s designers think and practice. Speculative design has become an integral part of the way designer see their work more critically, beyond what constrains them in just designing for practicality. 


When we said the Design for Future Reality manifesto is also for critique, it means as a critique of today’s practice, where we think it needs to change. Looking at the A/B Manifesto, though it has expanded the way designers practice design, the purpose of speculative design is not to make an action to change our reality, but rather to imagine possible realities.

This leads to daydreaming, yet it is indeed to inspire and provoke change. But oftentimes, we all just fall in love with the imagination, rather than make a real impact. The Design for Future Reality manifesto is not to annul this A/B Manifesto, but rather to expand beyond it, to explore new directions.

Design for Future Reality manifesto attempts to bring up what we need to shift in our practice by listing characteristics of how we can make our practice more grounded in making a responsible reality for the future of our and the next generation.

---

Footnotes