Towards a Distributed Design in Crisis Scenarios: Frictions and Futures of Digital Manufacturing Collectives in Chile

Abstract

The escalating destabilizations of recent years, such as the climate crisis, social, food and energy crises, wars, among many others, have raised the question of where to direct the discipline of design in uncertain scenarios like the ones we currently live in. In this article, the lessons and frictions that the global COVID-19 pandemic left for designer collectives in Chile are analyzed. Faced with the challenges of traditional industries to respond to the high number of infections and deaths caused by the virus, designer collectives, spread throughout the territory, became key actors in the context of the health crisis. Through a qualitative study of the experiences and associations of maker collectives and Fab labs in Chile, this work analyses the frictions experienced by these collectives during the viral crisis. It examines the efforts to gain legitimacy against expert systems, creating a paradox between the opportunities that opened up for maker collectives and the risks of bureaucratization and weakening of their hacker ethos in the need to certify their solutions with traditional institutions. Based on the analysis of this experience, the article concludes by emphasizing some operations aimed at promoting distributed design for crisis management, expanding the resilience and self-design capabilities of the territories.