The Art of (un)making: A Guideline for Creative Avoidance of Production

Solving the dilemma between the unnecessity of production and the necessity of value creation is urgently sought after since David Graeber pointed out the proliferation of ‘Bullshit Jobs’. Rather than trying to vaguely fill in the century-old production space with empty movements, a strategic shift of the general aim of production is required.

(un)making is an act of value creation with a special focus on creatively avoiding production. The concept stems from ‘unmaking’ (without brackets), an emerging term in the field of HCI and design, where they extensively explore beyond the traditional realm of crafting perfect objects that last forever.

(un)making has the potential to radically turn around the dichotomy between AI taking away jobs or creating more work. Yoshinari Nishiki (a.k.a Inari) is pursuing his PhD on (un)making, employing workshops as a method of verification. Now, participants at AMRO 2024 are invited to test its legitimacy and their creativity in avoiding production.

img © Violetta Wakolbinger