Field Essays: Meanderings in the field of decolonial design

Sophie Krier (dir.)
Ed. Onomatopee, 2019

This issue of Field Essays brings to the fore the research Éloj Kréyol by design-duo dach&zephir (Florian Dach and Dimitri Zephir). Initiated in 2015, Éloj Kréyol is an attempt to reconcile, and reactivate neglected artisanal and cultural lifelines in the genealogy of the French Caribbean archipelago.

The five meanders that structure this book are invitations to ponder on the hidden biographies of archival images (Encounter between Dimitri Zephir, Florian Dach and X, edited by Sophie Krier); the enduring creolisation and alienation processes in Martiniquan society (Creole Voices by André Lucrèce); the material ingenuity of a water jar, a simple kitchen knife, and a basket (Mapping Histories by dach& zephir); the richness’s and unknowns of a collaboration across cultures in the field of design (Design as Relationality, Aesthetics as Agency: on dach& zephir by Lucy Cotter); the circulation of aes¬thetic norms at the turn of the century (The Creole Ninfa by Thomas Golsenne); and our legacy to the upcoming generation (Nasyon A Ti Kréyol, Design as Transmission). Bon lekti! Wishing you a good read!

Field Essays is a multi-faceted research that connects research posture in art/design with perspectives from other fields of knowledge (scientific / vernacular). It takes the form of short residencies, workshops, round tables and hybrid publications combining emerging know-how, practice and contemporary thinking. Both an object idea and an object of research communication, making it public and happening, Field Essays is above all a meeting, and the restitution of this meeting. Dialogue (dia- through, between, logos, speech, discourse) is its main mode of operation. Field Essays thus takes the form of a multi-vocal conversation platform that explores peripheral practices in search of neglected / forgotten / neglected topics, methods and terrains. Through Field Essays, practitioners and thinkers are joined together to establish a framework for shared reflection. Field Essays seeks to deepen and support unknown / emerging artistic practices, on the one hand, and to confront theoretical concepts with the material reticence of diverse practices, on the other. Field Essays was founded in 2008 by artist and researcher Sophie Krier, and is published by Onomatopee (Netherlands).

Authors: dach&zephir; Lucy Cotter; André Lucrèce; Thomas Golsenne; Sophie Krier (dir.)
Graphic design: Inedition

Languages: English and Creole, with French summaries

17 x 24 cm
96 pages
20 €
ISBN: 9-78493-148055

Websites:
www.fieldessays.net
www.onomatopee.net
https://stimuleringsfonds.nl/nl/subsidies/deelregeling_vormgeving/