Category Archives: disability aesthetics

Assistance – On the History of Assistive Ensembles

Posted on March 12, 2021 by designabilities

The category of assistive technologies is often discussed as a political category (Alper 2017), as they invoke connotations such as “in need of help” with respect to the respective users* (Mills 2015; Kotsch 2012; Ott 2014). In the 2nd convention … Continue reading →

Posted in accessible, alternative communication, augmentative communication, body, care, Conference, deaf, Design History, disability aesthetics, disability studies, Diversity, education, Enhancement, event, Experience Disability, Health, interaction, STS, universal design | Tagged Access, Access Studies, Accessibility, barrierefrei, Critical Media Studies, Deutsche Forschungsgesellschaft, dfg, Digital Media, disability, disability studies, Leuphana, Medienwissenschaften, Meryl Alper, Northeastern University | Leave a comment

»Sein eigener Designer sein«. Wie Mike als Behinderter seinen Alltag gestaltet.

Posted on March 28, 2020 by designabilities

von Noëmi Burkhalter Sich im Alltag frei bewegen zu können, alles selbständig zu erledigen und zu unternehmen, was man möchte, ist für viele von uns eine Selbstverständlichkeit. Doch was geschieht, wenn durch eine unheilbare Krankheit alltägliche Handlungen zu einer grossen … Continue reading →

Posted in accessible, awareness, care, co-design, disability aesthetics, disability studies, Diversity, Experience Disability, german/deutsch, Health | Tagged barrierefrei, behinderung, disability, Exklusion, inklusion, Margot Schild, michael erlhoff, Muskelatrophie, Muskelschwund, nid, Noëmi Burkhalter, Non-intentional Design, Uta Brandes | 2 Comments

Disability Representation and the political Dimension of Art.

Posted on April 12, 2014 by designabilities

Tobin Siebers (University of Michigan) and Tom Bieling (Berlin University of the Arts) thoroughly explore the interconnections between disability, theory, aesthetics, artistic practice, as well as its political dimensions. The discussed elements help in setting the framework to a number … Continue reading →

Posted in art, disability aesthetics, disability studies, interview | Tagged art, disability, politics, tobin siebers, tom bieling | Leave a comment

«Get closer», … «because who is perfect?»

Posted on December 15, 2013 by designabilities

The latest campaign by Pro Infirmis: Two years ago, they already caught attention by their “get closer” campaign:

Posted in disability aesthetics, movie | Leave a comment

Performing Disability – Lisa Bufano und die Schönheit des Makels

Posted on September 16, 2010 by designabilities

Double amputeed performance artist Lisa Bufano has turned her “loss” into a profound artistic pursuit that has made her an award winning artist. Originally focused on animation and doll making as a means to explore her body, in 2005 she … Continue reading →

Posted in disability aesthetics, performance | Comments Off

Medic Esthetic – Good ol’ Shoe

Posted on September 16, 2010 by designabilities

In her project Medic Esthetic, Gwendolyn Huskens of Design Academy Eindhoven deals with the beauty of imperfection, using medical materials like synthetic plaster, bandages and stainless steel in white and skin tones, to make these shoes. A quote from this project: “The esthetics … Continue reading →

Posted in design project, disability aesthetics, fashion | Comments Off

Three Recent Books on Disability, Aesthetics, Art and Film.

Posted on August 20, 2010 by designabilities

Three releases around the body, from three different perspectives. In the first one, “Re-Presenting Disability: Activism and Agency in the Museum”, the Editors Richard Sandell, Jocelyn Dodd and Rosemarie Garland-Thomson broach the issue surrounding disability representation in museums and galleries. [Richard … Continue reading →

Posted in art, disability aesthetics, Film, Literature, movie | Comments Off

Reading Chart

Posted on April 13, 2010 by designabilities

Flipside of our latest flyer for a workshop on interaction and visual impairment… [Designabilities // Tom Bieling]

Posted in advertisement, blind, design project, design research, disability aesthetics, visual communication | Comments Off

PROAESTHETICS by FRANCESCA LANZAVECCHIA

Posted on December 8, 2009 by designabilities

Francesca Lanzavecchia’s thesis project ‘pro aesthetics supports’ explores the perception of disability through its artefacts. In her project she redesigned common medical artefacts associated with disability such as neck braces, canes, crutches and back braces. [The aid-object grows to accommodate the … Continue reading →

Posted in design project, design research, design study, disability aesthetics, prosthetics | Comments Off

Braille Jewelery

Posted on December 7, 2009 by designabilities

Swiss Jewely Artist Eva K. Bruggmann comes with a collection of braille adaptions for rings. Via Spandow

Posted in art, disability aesthetics, fashion, jewelery | Comments Off

Calligraphy

Posted on September 28, 2009 by sarahschipper

The term calligraphy usually evokes an image of beautiful writing and lettering. The series in Jolanta Lapiaks photocalligraphy body of works called Photospeaking and/or Photowriting inspects the notion of calligraphy and deconstructs this notion. “a splendid flash of concrete poetry”, Photospeaking … Continue reading →

Posted in alternative communication, art, deaf, disability aesthetics, photography, visual communication | Leave a comment

Ästhetik der Behinderung: “Psychologie der Hässlichkeit”

Posted on August 6, 2009 by designabilities

We recently found a prior announcement to a lecture course by Prof. Dr. phil., Dipl.-Psych. Dietrich Eggert (Institut für Sonderpädagogik, philosophische Fakultät) at Leibniz University Hannover on the “Psychology of Uglyness”. We haven’t found any further information on content and … Continue reading →

Posted in disability aesthetics, disability studies | Comments Off

Design Apartheid

Posted on July 18, 2009 by designabilities

Tobin Siebers names LeCorbusier’s “Modulor” as an example for a political unconscious architectural theory. Siebers recognizes here a basis of what Rob Imrie (also known as the co-author of the book: “Inclusive Design: Designing and Developing Accessible Environments“) calls the … Continue reading →

Posted in architecture, disability aesthetics, disability studies | Comments Off

Disability Aesthetics

Posted on July 5, 2009 by designabilities

In Tobin Siebers’ Paper we mentioned earlier (see also the description of our colloquium’s talk in the dates section) , he gives an introductory definition of Disability Aesthetics: “What I am calling disability aesthetics names a critical concept that seeks … Continue reading →

Posted in art, Definitions, disability aesthetics, disability studies, research | Comments Off

Welcome to DESIGNABILITIES!

Posted on June 1, 2009 by designabilities

… a research blog developed and run at

Posted in accessible, activism, advertisement, age, alternative communication, architecture, art, augmentative communication, awareness, bioethic, blind, blog, body, body modification, Calendar, Capability Simulation, care, co-design, comedy, Conference, cyborg, cymatics, deaf, deaf-blind, Definitions, demenz, design project, design research, design study, designwissenschaft, disability aesthetics, disability studies, echolocation, education, embodiment, Enhancement, event, exhibition, Experience Disability, fashion, Film, freak, game, gender, german/deutsch, graphic, humor, illiteracy, implants, interaction, interview, jewelery, jobs, Literature, movie, multimodality, music, neuroscience, people, performance, philodhopir, philosophie, photography, playful interaction, Politik, pop culture, posthumanism, prosthetics, prototyping, quote, reciprocal learning, report, research, senses, social design, sound, STS, sustainability and social innovation, synaesthesia, tactile communication, tangible interaction, team, toy, Transhumanity, typo, Uncategorized, universal design, virtual reality, visual communication | Tagged AAC, activism, aktivismus, Architektur, augmentative, Ökonomiekritik, barrierefrei, Bürgerwissenschaft, behinderung, blind, blind view, body, braille, Citizen Science, communication, deaf, deafblind, design, design for all, design research, design research lab, designabilities, designability, Designforschung, disability, fankultur, gebärdensprache, gehörlos, gesche joost, hci, inclusion, inclusive design, inklusion, interaction, interface, journal, Konsumkritik, kunst, lorm, participatory design, partizipation, perzeption, politik, Pop, Protest, protestkultur, science, sign language, silent talk, social design, social innovation, social integration, Soziotechnik, special needs, speechless, Stadt, Stadtsoziologie, STS, Techinksozoiologie, technology, teilhabe, Theorie, tom bieling, universal design, unterstützte kommunikation, Urbanism, usability, visual communication | Comments Off