Methodologies and Tools for Collaboration

Tools allow us to practice, while practicing allows us to build these tools. The artist and designer community, who have a keen interest in digital practices, has been utilizing this recipe for quite some time now. At Saint-Etienne Higher School of Art and Design, our pedagogy is based on this principle. Since the very beginning, we've had plenty exchanges with our students regarding the use of these tools. The integration of communication, sharing and design tools into our creative practices has had a significant impact on the way we approach and express our creativity. This project has displayed the varying degrees to which each team, school and country cultivates its unique culture of relationships with technology, particularly with digital technology.

It is indeed a struggle to distance ourselves from these topics: As professionals, students, and teachers, we find ourselves entangled in socio-politico-economic systems that our practices actively participate in. Addressing these fundamental questions becomes crucial for shaping the future, especially amidst the climate and political challenges that lie ahead in the upcoming years.

This project which lasted two years, was rich in exchanges and experiences, and had an indisputable effect on us, especially on our students: questioning and critical positioning towards our methods and utilization of digital creative tools through collaborative efforts. It became clear that tools and methods we impart are not neutral: they are indeed part of the creative process and have a lot of influence on projects as well as on students, on the way they work and on their designs. Our practices encompass a mix of art, hacking, tinkering, product design as well as the use of both proprietary and free software. However, each school approaches pedagogy with its own unique perspective, adapting toolboxes and methods that directly influence the professional world in which we prepare our students. Within the framework of the DTCC project, we had the opportunity to voice our concerns while enabling different approaches to coexist.

Even though we have encountered some challenges in our collaboration, the encounter of our distinct practices regarding design and teaching proved to be highly enriching. This project gave us the chance to share and compare our methodologies and tools -- analyzing their modalities, origins and realities in our institutions and also in professional contexts, while allowing students to think both individually and collectively about their strengths and weaknesses.