Pontus Johansson
GRANT HOLDER 2012
What has the scholarship meant to you and your career?
As a student I was sometimes insecure about my choices, where I was heading, if what I did was significant to anyone except for myself etc. To receive this amazing award gave both confidence and a energy boost as it was a proof that others also appreciated what I did. It also gave me fundings to be able to fully concentrate on my studies for a while without having to bother to much about money. That is a luxury as a student. And not at least, through the award I also became part of the jury and the chance to get to know all the great people within that group.
What are you up to today?
I work as a teacher at HDK in Gothenburg. I am involved in a variety of courses, but quite often with a focus on participation, play and explorative artistic processes. At the moment Im running a course about outdoor play and agroforestry for example. When I have time I also work on some projects outside the academy, commissioned or self initiated. Right now I work with a public art commission for a new library and also trying to find fundings for a project with teenagers and young adults regarding identity in a time where everything around us sometimes seems to fall apart. Who is aloud to have dreams about a bright future when the polar ice is melting, the forests are on fire and the fishes die with their bodies full of plastics?
What are your two cents on design today and tomorrow?
The only thing I can say for sure about the future of design is that whatever I say the future will prove me wrong. Design are in the beginning of an identity crisis. We are facing another reality with new rules. We have to look at consumption, economy, ownership, hierarchies etc from a new perspective. I think their will be a need for designers in many new and interesting fields and contexts, compared to where we are mainly active today. And I believe designers will be seen as important team members rather than individual creators and l also think the designers mind will be more asked for than the designers products. I also hope that designers, more than today, starts to work with a less anthropocentric perspective to also include other species, nature and other realities in our work and duty.
