Paper short abstract:

Gunn asks us to consider beauty as collaborative forms of action generated by moving between design by means of anthropology and anthropology by means of design. Specifically, she gives focus to play-like reflexions on practices of designing energy products, systems and infrastructure. Design anthropology engages groups of people within collaborative, interdisciplinary, inter-organizational design processes and co-analytic activities vs. the individual anthropologist conducting studies of people. In doing anthropology by means of design as Gatt and Ingold (2013) have shown, design is considered the process of research rather than its object. In its temporal orientation, anthropology by means of design moves, ‘…forward with people in tandem with their desires and aspirations rather than going back over times passed’ (ibid 2013: 141). Doing design by means of anthropology takes as its most fundamental premise designing as a social process and can be understood as a material engagement and constructive critique involving participant observation.