Decolonising Design II with Ramon AmaroDecolonising Design II with Ramon Amaro

The second edition of Decolonising Design, an evening that questioned the dominant position of Western design culture and opened it up to different perspectives. The first well-attended evening focused on expressions of design culture and demanded a follow-up. This time the focus was on the digital systems behind design processes. With a lecture by Ramon Amaro, Associate Lecturer in Interactive Media: Critical Theory and Visual Cultures at Goldsmiths, University of London.

Ramon Amaro discussed the problematic relationship between technology and the experience of the Black body. He began with the genealogical roots of this relationship: a seventeenth-century Western project of social quantification. He then examined contemporary issues relating to race and racism connected with machine learning and artificial intelligence and current ethical concerns relating to Facebook and Google and other urgent issues. A discussion with the public was moderated by Susanne Eskens.

Ramon Amaro is Associate Lecturer in Interactive Media: Critical Theory and Visual Cultures, and a PhD researcher at the Centre for Cultural Studies, Goldsmiths, University of London. His research interests include machine learning, Black studies, race, social modelling and the philosophy of maths. He holds an advanced degree in Sociological Research and a BSE in Mechanical Engineering. He is former Assistant Editor of the open-access journal Big Data & Society and founder and lead researcher at the machine learning and artificial intelligence research collective, SambaRhino.com.

Susanne Eskens is an independent creative strategist working on the cross section of culture, media and society. Susanne brings together different people and ideas, and creates spaces where change can happen, on the inside and out. She writes, creates and hosts events, and offers strategic advice to local government, NGOs, cultural organisations and financial institutions.

More information about Decolonising Design I on 29 September 2016.