FFF Seminar Maternal Machines and other Fantasies of Care

Abstract: Paulina will talk about her current research Maternal Machines: Design Speculations about Fantasies of Care, a four-year long design research project funded by Wellcome, that explores imaginaries and ideations related to maternal and infant care. The research explores constellations of human/machine interactions through the practice of speculative design to disrupt ways of thinking about technologies creates for care and initiate understandings that address a diversity of experiences. Paulina’s talk is preceded by a workshop at KTH, inviting researchers to speculate about ways in which non-numerical bodily knowledge coexist with technologies in perinatal care, a space of multiple forms of knowledge. Paulina will discuss some of the related themes and practices in her research.

Join us in welcoming our wonderful speaker:

Paulina Yurman is a designer, researcher and industrial design lecturer based at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London. She is the recipient of a Wellcome EC Research Award grant for her research Maternal Machines: Design Speculations about Fantasies of Care, which explores imaginaries and ideations about designs and technologies related to maternal and infant care, whilst also looking to identify design opportunities that might lead to diverse forms of wellbeing. Paulina’s work is informed by speculative design and research-through-design, and she uses drawing and making as forms of research. Her PhD at Goldsmiths was a design exploration into the role of smartphones for mothers who have the primary role of care for their young children. She is often interested in our ambivalent relationship with technology, experienced as both empowering and intrusive, that feeds into users’ imaginaries, dreams, fantasies and fears.

Please note that this seminar will not be recorded.