Are we human? : the archaeology of design /
by Beatriz Colomina & Mark Wigley.
- Zürich, Switzerland : Lars Müller Publishers, [2016]
- 285 pages. ,1 unnumbered leaf of plates : illustrations (some color), plans ; 18 cm
Includes bibliographical references.
The mirror of design : spiderwebs, sediments radiation, extinction self-surveillance The plastic human : plasticity, strange artifacts interface Blows of design : technofossils, prehistory genetic continuum hands, ornament sexual selection The invention of the human : tools, brain, curiosity The ornamental species : domestication, beads, networks, thinking strings, useless things New from nowhere : mechanical life, good design, morality, failure toys, functionalsim Good design is an anesthetic : smoothness, shock, smile shock absorber, nerves The design of health : dissection, x-ray, tuberculosis, fatigue, allergies, autoimmune burnout Human-centered design : camping, artificial limbs biology, survival, self-destruction, primal scene The frictionless silhouette : normal, human engineering, automaton biotechnique, discipline Designing the body : bodybuilding, hedonism nudism, libido, stomach psyche Design as perversion : fetishism, bondage voyeurism, erotica scatology, pedophilia Designing a ghost : scale figure, protohumans clothing, lurking shadows The unstable body : microbiome, prosthetics plastic surgery, drugs biodesign, chimera Homo cellular : intimacy, connectivity shelter, computation selfie, surveillance Design in 2 seconds : social media, avatar hybrid space, the bed postlabor, self-design
"The question "are we human?" is both urgent and ancient. Beatriz Colomina and Mark Wigley offer a multi-layered exploration of the intimate relationship between human and design. Their field notes offer an archaeology of the way design has gone viral and is now bigger than the world. They range across the last few hundred thousand years and the last few seconds to scrutinize the uniquely plastic relation between brain and artifact. A vivid portrait emerges. Design becomes the way humans ask questions and thereby continuously redesign themselves"-- Page 4 of cover