ABSTRACT
‘As a metaphorical image, friction reminds us that heterogeneous and unequal encounters can lead to new arrangements of culture and power’. This chapter is concerned with the frictions created in the meeting between speculative objects and mundane practices, present(s) and future(s), design and anthropology. It outlines some of the more general issues, challenges and potentials for design anthropology, speculative design, and the possible relations between them. Participatory design challenges this division of labour between research and design by inviting ‘users’ and other stakeholders into the design process. All design is inherently about the future and imagining potentials; but a group of design practices under the umbrella term ‘speculative design’ has a more explicit orientation towards the future. Critical design addressed broader socio-technical and cultural configurations, or ‘the way technologies enter our lives and the limitations they place on people’.
