To: Jia Cui
CC: Hazel White
Subject: Re: from MDes student Michelle
Hi Michelle
Thank you for your email and kind words.
Suicide is obviously an incredibly sensitive subject, so do proceed with care and respect and sensitivity - and look after yourself whilst doing this.
And complex and diverse I imagine: for some people there is the (cliche? I'm not sure) of a 'cry for help';
others may be depressed and resigned: the probably equally cliched 'preparing for sleep', beloved of crime writers.
Sorry, this is very 'Readers Digest Guide to Psychiatry' I know - but my *only* point is be extremely wary of stereotyping!
That is not to preclude an appropriate use of critical design or critical thinking for that matter:
the most profound issues deserve and demand this - which is why I would advocate design for/around/against disability to be another appropriate subject although this too would be controversial.
Noam Toran's work around loneliness seems closest, most poignant.
Alright, with that being said, here are some half-baked thoughts (I certainly wouldn't propose these ideas without knowing much more than I do):
Before deciding on a kit ('beautiful' is obviously a provocative quality) for people to kill themselves.
I wonder if you could tease apart the issues a little more, and identify something more specific.
... that extends to tying up all the loose ends and making sure you don't cause any upset to those who you know love you or might after all love you (obviously a nonsense, but in doing so could highlight this nonsense and the pain that can be left behind)
... that allows a cry for help without the act itself (I don't know: a countdown timer or voting system...)
... a placebo (a lot in the news today about placebo Prozac helping people with depression just by knowing that someone is noticing and trying to help by prescribing...)
... specifically for a winter suicide (that could highlight S.A.D.) or a Christmas suicide or New Year or Valentine's Day...
... a government** campaign to *promote* suicide? (perhaps it could help the NHS and reduce the unemployment figures?)
... reminds me of Frank Zappa's 'Suicide Chump', which once shamed me out of self pity
**: I'm sceptical of who would be talked out of suicide by an official government campaign, particularly young people, feeling alienated.
Reading these back, they sound like cheap gags, bad 'Pub Talk design', so please use them just to seed your own thoughts and then incinerate them...(that's the basis on which I share them)
Hope this helps a little
Best wishes
Graham
On 26 Feb 2008, at 13:12, Jia Cui wrote:
Hi Graham,
This is Michelle from MDes, the critical design workshop you ran at our studio last semester was really fantastic and very interesting.
I think maybe you would like to offer me some suggestions on my main project: how can design contribute to suicide prevention in Scotland? Actually it was my adviser Mike Press, he suggested me to do a critical design for my main project, also this is what I am really interested in and want to have a try.
Basically from my research of the suicide issue I found that a suicide prevention strategy/policy has been set by the government, and one of the policies is Media and information setting. The role of the media is increasing people's awareness on suicide and encourage suicidal people to seek professional help. But many researchers believe that high-profile news reports of deaths may push vulnerable or depressed people to commit copcat suicides. In one year in the 1970s, for example, there were 60 suicides by burning in the UK after reports of a woman burning herself to death in Switzerland. Such suicides are normally extremely rare.
So my idea is to design a beautiful kit for people to kill themselves in order to lead a discussion on the efficiency of national suicide prevention, especially the policy of media. Could you give me some ideas/suggestions on this issue from the perspective of critical design?
Thanks so much and look forward to hearing from you soon!
Kind regards,
Michelle
No comments:
Post a Comment