3957
Sahota, Sanjay "Alternative Aesthetics of Inclusive Design." Design Futures MA
, Cardiff Metropolitan University, 2018
57
pages, written in English
, copyright Sanjay Sahota
Abstract: I’m making musical instruments for disabled musicians more punk.
Musical instruments started to become more technologically advanced in the 20th century. They specifically started to become accessible to more and more people (eg. The synthesizer.) Today, in 2018, disabled musicians have the chance to play musical instruments as the accessibility factor has come so far. However, in designing instruments this way, some of the obscurity and awe has been lost in the design content. Historically, musical instruments evoke (visually as well as sonically) awe, obscurity, and danger. (Even instruments which have been absorbed into western consciousness, eg. the saxophone, were considered abstract and alien during the time of their invention and popularization.) Therefore, my research asks the question “could accessible instruments for disabled musicians be designed in such a way that they visually evoke obscurity, danger, and violent theatrics during a musical performance?” I reference punk subculture, specifically graphic design and also punk philosophy, in my work as a means of grounding my design ideas in an established context of danger, obscurity, and violence. This is because punk as a subculture has a history of evoking such feelings in, for example, the reader of a zine or the audience member of music performance.
Department: Speculative Design
, Cardiff Metropolitan University
Advisor(s): Steven Thompson, Theo Humphries
