Since its inception, Dark Matter U (DMU) has worked through communal knowledge and organizing to create antiracist forms of knowledge production, institutions, collective practice, community, and design. Drawing from the lecture and workshop, “Challenging Patterns of Supremacy: Provocations from Collective Pedagogy, Practice, and Organizing,” held at the College of Environmental Design, University of California Berkeley in September 2022, this experimental publication offers a series of provocations on consent, power, supremacy, institutions, and hope that can form the basis for oppositional practices. Both the lecture and workshop were designed and facilitated by the authors, building on DMU's collective practice and activism.
The resulting publication challenges patterns of supremacy in its content and its form: the text guides readers in critical reflection on collaborative architectural pedagogies, practices, and organizing, and the graphic design presents this knowledge in a creatively accessible format. As an annotated teaching and facilitation guide for design communities, this book furthers DMU’s mission is to transform architectural education in centering and serving the many identity positions that are presently excluded or disenfranchised by practice today.
AUTHORS
Shalini Agrawal (she/her) is a facilitator, educator and an interdisciplinary designer based in unceded Ohlone territory, also known as the Bay Area. Her practice is grounded in spatial justice, self-reflection and embodied healing.
Lisa C. Henry is an artist, associate professor, and associate dean of the College of Architecture + Planning at the University of Utah. Her research is focused on how critical gender, race, queer, and disability theory intersect with architectural education, pedagogy, design, production, and activism.
Tonia Sing Chi is an architect, memory worker, and builder based in Oakland on Ohlone land. Her design practice, Peripheral Office, is rooted in reciprocity and shared authorship, weaving together storytelling, place-based building practices, and community organizing. Her projects include Nááts’íilid Initiative and Storytelling Spaces of Solidarity in the Asian Diaspora (SSSAD).
Shawhin Roudbari studies and teaches about ways designers organize to address social problems. He bridges studies of social movements and race with architectural theory. His research contributes to theories/practices of contentious politics around race and design. His work with the DissentXDesign research collective is published in architectural, sociological, and interdisciplinary journals.
Bz Zhang is an architect, organizer, and artist based in Tovaangar (so-called Los Angeles). In their own practice, they use documentation and speculation to unravel physical and cultural constructions of place. As part of the Los Angeles Neighborhood Land Trust, they work with communities toward environmental justice through design, construction, and stewardship of our public green spaces.
DESIGN
The book has been designed by Dave Pabellon, a design educator, researcher, and practitioner under the moniker It Is Just Dave LLC, with over twenty-five years of experience. As a practitioner, Pabellon's studio work consists primarily of identity, publication, and exhibition design, focusing on partnerships with cultural institutions, contemporary artists, and activist organizations.
SUPPORT
This project was generously supported by the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts, Public and Community-Engaged Scholarship (PACES) at the University of Colorado Boulder, the University of Utah College of Architecture + Planning, and DMU.
Book Details
Total Run: 750 copies
Pages: 132
Size: 5.825 inches x 8.27 inches
ISBN: 978-1-7367436-5-2
Authors: Bz Zhang, Lisa C Henry, Shalini Agrawal, Shawhin Roudbari, and Tonia Sing Chi
Copy Editor: Anna Alves
Design: Dave Pabellon
Typefaces: Garamond, designed by Claude Garamond; Balto, designed by Tal Leming; and Martin, designed by Tre Seals
Publishers: Dark Matter U (DMU) and MAS Context
Printing and Binding: die Keure, Brugges, Belgium