Pirates of theDanube

Hello!
Thanks
Melinda
for
invi3ng
us
here.
We
run
a
small
design
studio
in
London
(mostly!)
called
Superﬂux.

We design for
Emerging technologies,
Societies in ﬂux,
The imminently probable.

Place the drawing at the back of a piece of paper.
Here’s
a
liDle
pub
drawing
of
our
vision
for
Superﬂux
-‐
of
how
we
work.
Through
our
Consultancy
we
work
hands
on
with

clients
to
design
interac3ons:
products,
experiences
or
services.

And
through
the
Lab
we
like
to
push
the
boundaries

and
do
more
experimental
work
-‐
we
explore
the
poten3al
and
also
implica3ons
of
new
and
emerging
technologies
on

our
everyday
lives
-‐
we
do
this
research
because
it
furthers
the
discipline,
our
interests
and
helps
us
con3nue
to
grow

and
push
boundaries..
And
that
bright
spot
where
they
overlap
is
what
we
call
the
‘sweet
spot’
where
-‐
the
merger
of

the
now
and
the
possible
future
can
lead
to
what
you
might
call:
“innova3on”.

Innovation Workshops

Experience Prototypes

Design Futurscaping

Concept Scenarios
Ideas
Strategy

Stories Consultancy Superflux Lab
Films

NOW FUTURE
SWEET
SPOT

Superflux Ltd | London, UK | 2011

Here’s
a
neater
version
of
the
same
:)

Clients and Commissioners

A glimpse of our clients and commissioners

.And
some
examples
of
our
work.
We
explore
the
poten3als
and
implica3ons
of
emerging
technologies
on
society
and

the
environment.
Our
work
takes
the
form
of
applica3ons
and
products,
but
also
stories,
ﬁlms,
images
and
props.

THE BENTWOOD CHAIR
by Michael Thonet

So
whats
the
workshop
about.
Let
us
start
with
some
context.
Tradi3onally
the
role
of
the
designer
in
industrial
society

is
to
drive
economic
growth
by
adding
value
to,
and
or,
aiding
in
the
produc3on
of
goods
and
services.
When
Michael

Thonet
ﬁrst
introduced
his
bentwood
chair
(the
'14'
now
known
today
as
the
'214'
chair)
in
Vienna
in
1859,
liDle
did
he

know
that
he
had
created
what
would
become
the
ﬁrst
mass-‐produced
chair
in
the
world.

“The interesting thing is the
product, not the person."
James Dyson

And
the
design
industry
that
followed
has
tradi3onally
seen
the
role
of
designer
help
in
the
design
and
delivery
of

consumer
products
that
are
deﬁned
by
brands
and
markets
in
the
‘free
economy’.

BUT... THINGS ARE CHANGING!

AS DESIGNERS, HOW DO WE SHIFT PARAMETERS AND STILL MONETISE? IS IT POSSIBLE?

We
are
experiencing
some
changes
in
that
system:
current

stormy
economic
environment,
and
with
the
forecast
for

more
trouble
on
the
horizon
in
the
form
of
over
popula3on,
peak
oil
and
global
warming
to
name
but
a
few,

Europe:
credit
crunch,
crisis,
rescue
plans
where
are
we
heading,
as
designers
what
is
our
role
in
this
change

landscape:
We
are
taught
to
mone3se
-‐
but
in
these
changes
3mes,
how
do
we
shi[
the
parameters
and
s3ll

mone3se?

Trade Union Demonstration, Budapest, April 9, 2011

Even
here,
in
Hungary
things
are
no
diﬀerent.
Just
few
days
ago
you
had
a
big
trade
union
protest.
While
EU
ﬁnance

ministers
on
Saturday
met
in
Godollo,
Hungary
to
defend
harsh
austerity
measures
as
a
necessary
means
to
defeat
the

current
debt
crisis,
thousands
of
trade
union
members
marched
in
the
main
city
to
protest
against
austerity
those
same

measures.)

1st Peak Oil Graph

Demand
is
staying
the
same
or
rising,
while
supply
is
staying
the
same,
so
that
pushes
the
price.
Since
the
economy
is

changing
so
rapidly
-‐
and
in
turn
our
everyday
lives,
we’d
like
this
workshop
to
address
this
issue
by
raising
a
set
of

ques3ons.

What alternative roles might designers take?

What new strategies and ideas might the ‘design
community‘ employ in response to these challenges?

This
raises
some
key
ques3ons.

DOTT DESIGN PROJECT | LED BY JOHN THACKARA, UK h"p://www.do"07.com/

Mobile Shelter for the Homeless | Paul Elkins

h"p://www.fastcompany.com/1594990/a-‐mobile-‐homeless-‐shelter-‐you-‐wouldnt-‐mind-‐living-‐in
Sure,
the
225-‐pound
shelter
is
Eny
and
has
no
room
to
stand,
but
that's
not
the
point.
It
provides
everything
you
need,
including

a
kichen,
rest/sleeping
area,
and
makeshiI
washroom,
and
it
can
be
easily
carted
around
from
street
to
street.
The
roof
also
acts

as
a
raincatcher,
and
a
tank
collects
water
for
later
use.
An
overﬂow
feature
lets
excess
water
drain
to
the
ground.
At
the
very

least,
the
mobile
homeless
shelter
beats
grocery-‐cart
living-‐-‐or
even,
say,
renEng
a
studio
in
Williamsburg,
Brooklyn.
And
we
can

imagine
that
the
cart
could
be
useful
at
fesEvals-‐-‐i.e.
Burning
Man-‐-‐where
protecEon
from
the
elements
is
criEcal.

Ark.Inc | Jon Ardern

h"p://www.jonardern.com/projects/ark-‐inc/index.html

RECYCLED RIGS: Abandoned Oil Platforms as Ocean Mini-Cities?

What happens when we move from severing corporate
interests to the interests of the community?

Or where they both meet?

Bank on a Boat | Luzia Moraes

h"p://on.wsj.com/qTdIOL

Most bank managers fret about bad loans or a run on deposits. Luzia Moraes has to worry about a leak in the hull,
bandits and rainstorms that keep clients away for weeks. Ms. Moraes, a 43-year-old former housewife, is at the helm of
a swashbuckling new venture in Brazil—as manager of the first floating bank branch on the Amazon river system. From
a riverboat, she peddles banking services in a frontier where people don’t have much money—let alone experience with
ATMs, savings accounts or personal loans. besides supporting a bank branch and carrying passengers, the 125-foot,
triple-decker Voyager III stocks 500 tons of beans, chicken, bleach and other goods that it sells over a 1,000-mile
course and a dozen ports of call.

Protei, a robotic solution to oil spills | Cesar Harada & Team

h"ps://sites.google.com/a/opensailing.net/protei/home


How can new tools of rapid prototyping, bio-hacking, and
DIY culture as a whole be used to create new economies?

Maker Bot and London Hackspace Meetup

h"p://www.makerbot.com/

DIYBio | New York Group

h"p://diybionyc.blogspot.com/
DIYBio,
NYC:
The
day
started
out
auspiciously,
with
the
Tompkins
Square
Greenmarket
giving
us
a
primo
spot
on
Avenue
A
to

set
up
our
DNA
ExtracEon
Party
table.
We
laid
out
all
our
supplies-‐
dish
detergent,
plasEc
champagne
glasses,
salt,
meat

tenderizer,
etc.-‐
on
our
bright
green
table
with
a
cool
poster
of
our
logo
in
front.
The
day
was
sunny
and
perfect
for
DNA-‐
making.
-‐
What
are
you
doing?"
and
when
we
replied
"extracEng
DNA"
the
second
quesEon
was
always
"Why,
what
can
you
DO

with
it?"
The
answer
they
seemed
to
like
best
was
"test
it
to
see
if
the
fruit
was
geneEcally
engineered".
The
second
most

popular
answer
was
"if
all
the
strawberries
on
earth
were
wiped
out,
you
could
recreate
them
with
what's
in
your
li"le
test

tube-‐
just
like
Jurassic
Park
but
without
the
bloodshed".

Environmental Health Clinic | Natalie Jeremijenko


What services might we design if our constraints
move from concerns about legal implications to
personal ethical considerations?

Slave City | Atelier Van Lieshout

h"p://www.archdaily.com/30114/slave-‐city-‐atelier-‐van-‐lieshout/

A
concept
for
a
self-‐sustaining,
zero-‐carbon
prison
city,
SlaveCity
can
be
described
as
a
sinister
distopian
project,
which
is
ver
ra3onal,
efficient
and
profitable
(7
billion
euro
net
profit
per
year).
It
is
a
green
town
where
everything
is
recycled
and
a
city

that
does
not
squander
the
world’s
resources.
Values,
ethics,
aesthe3cs,
moral,
food,
energy,
economics,
organiza3on,

management
and
market
are
turned
upside-‐down,
mixed
and
reformulated
and
designed
into
a
town
of
200.000
inhabitants
The
‘inhabitants’
work
for
seven
hours
each
day
in
office
jobs
and
seven
hours
in
the
fields
of
inside
the
workshop,
before

being
allowed
three
hours
of
relaxa3on
before
they
sleep
for
seven
hours.

Recycled Rigs: Abandoned Oil Platforms as Ocean Mini-Cities | Ku Yee Kee and Hor Sue-Wern

h"p://dornob.com/recycled-‐rigs-‐abandoned-‐oil-‐plaaorms-‐as-‐ocean-‐mini-‐ciEes/

It
is
hard
to
believe
that
there
are
companies
capable
of
crea3ng
(rela3vely)
robust
structures
far
out
at
sea,
(usually)

capable
of
withstanding
extreme
weather
and
las3ng
for
decades
or
longer.
But
their
use
in
harves3ng
‘black
gold’
from

the
ocean
ﬂoor
is
limited,
as
alterna3ves
are
(hopefully)
developed
and
spill
risks
increasingly
recognized.
Here
is
one

vision
for
how
one
turn
such
relics
into
semi-‐submerged
habitats
and
give
them
a
new
architectural
lease
on
life.


If instead of designing for the free market,
what if we designed for the street, or black market?

Pan-City Feral Cider Business | Power of 8

h"p://powerof8.org.uk/?p=587

“Wherever there is a fundamental
disagreement about what is right
as well as a connection to the
global market, deviant
entrepreneurs are there to meet
the unfulﬁlled demand.

In meeting our collective desires,
they see the diﬀerences in notions
of public good, morality, and health
as bankable market opportunities”

PIRATES
OF THE
DANUBE

In
the
context
of
these
ques3ons,
we’d
like
to
propose
the
workshop
for
the
next
three
days,
as
‘Pirates
of
the
Danube’.

Apple Shell

Human Traﬃcking

Mainstream Deviant
Economy Pirates of the Danube
Economy

In
this
workshop
you,
the
designers
and
makers
and
technologists,
all
par3cipants
will
explore
this
rather
interes3ng

space
between
the
‘main
stream’
and
‘deviant’
economies.

Mainstream Deviant
Informal Illegal Economy
Economy Pirates of the Danube

Plojng
an
exploratory
course
though
the
ocean
of
ethical,
moral
and
legal
ambiguity:
From
organ
farming
to
home

restaurants
and
copyright
infringement
to
river
piracy.

foraging

dumpster
diving open
source
soIware
street
hawking smuggling
home
restaurants drug
selling
allotments organ
selling
freecycle Hawala

pirate
radio
Informal Illegal
Economy Pirates of the Danube Economy

copyright
infringement river
piracy
secret
cinema corrupEon
street
art
couch
surfing malware
squat
parEes
guerilla
gardening human
trafficking

Here
are
some
examples
of
what
might
be
considered
‘informal’
and
what
might
be
‘illegal’
and
things
which
fall
on
the

edges
of
the
too.
We
con3nue
to
think
of
those
grey
areas
in
between
these
different
economies.

Legal and ethically neutral Illegal but ethically neutral

Informal Illegal
Pirates of the Danube Economy
Economy

Legal but ethically problematic Illegal and ethically problematic
Now
here’s
the
challenge.
We
want
you
to
create
your
projects
while
thinking
deeply
about
the
ethical
implica3ons
of

that
idea.
Some3mes
an
economic
idea
might
be
ethically
neutral
but
illegal,
while
at
other
3mes
it
might
be
ethically

problema3c
and
s3ll
neutral.
Could
we
as
designers
consider
such
consequences
of
our
work
too?
(and
as
a
note,

some,mes
four
quadrants
can
be
quite
good.)

Your Location: The Danube

[Par,cipants
will
select
a
speciﬁc
area
of
interest
within
this
larger
theme
and
create
design
proposals
and
prototypes

during
the
workshop.
A
trip
to
the
Danube
with
appropriate
pirate-‐gear
might
be
necessary.]

Get your pirate gear on and lets set sail!

“Forget trying to pass for normal. Get weird. Get way
weird. Get dangerously weird. Put every ounce of
horsepower you have behind it. Don't become a well-
rounded person. Well-rounded people are smooth and
dull. Become a thoroughly spiky person. Grow spikes
from every angle. Stick in their throats like a puﬀerﬁsh."
Bruce Sterling

Thank You
@superﬂux | hello@superﬂux.in

Pirates of theDanube

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