By Tuğçe Karataş

German designer Ottonie von Roeder questions the impact that automation can have on our lives. In her Post-Labouratory project, she wants to use automation as an opportunity to question how and why we work. The designer allows us to imagine a world in which our jobs and professions have been taken over by robots, with the abolition of repetitive tasks better enabling us all to realize our creative potential. We spoke with von Roeder at the time of her recent research trip to Istanbul in preparation for a new iteration of her Post-Labouratory project to be presented at the 4th Istanbul Design Biennial - A School of Schools.

Tuğçe Karataş: Since the focus of the biennial is design education, let’s start with your educational background. First Bauhaus University, then Design Academy Eindhoven... How did these two universities affect your design practice?

Ottonie von Roeder: I think it affected my practice, but also me as a person, which you cannot separate. In Weimar, I learned to work very conceptually, it was very much a research-based education. I had a lot of time, a lot of freedom in the sense of structure to go really deep into a topic and to come up with strong concepts, but the design part was usually lacking. And also the playfulness. That also may be caused by the very serious and conceptual nature of German design education. Maybe it also has to do with the Bauhaus heritage that people take these studies very seriously. In Design Academy Eindhoven, there was less freedom in the structure, but much more freedom in the content, in the way you work and your output looks. Before, in Weimar, I studied product design and I was very free to choose the topic I worked on. But then the output had to be kind of a product or somehow related. In Eindhoven, you were expected to produce something physical, but also very free in how you manage around it. The structure was also very quick, as we always had a rhythm of six weeks and not one semester. So the research looked very different; in six weeks you don't have time to go really deep. I learned to follow my intuition, to work with my humour, to play, to maybe take things easier while still connecting to important topics or topics that are meaningful to me.

TK: How is “playfulness” translated into your projects? What is “playfulness” for you?

OR: I would say that playfulness is a lot connected with humour and it is not easy to be playful. For me, it is quite a challenge. It is difficult to make a good joke. It is important to me because I think it is a very good way to engage others; non-designers, as well as designers or people from the field. It is also a good way to start a conversation about a very difficult topic. By making a good joke, you can start to talk about or communicate a concept.

TK: Can you tell us about your trip to Istanbul and how your research with the Post-Labouratory will progress?

OR: The output of this project is a kind of an office that designs robots, machines, Artificial Intelligence, software, whatever you need to abolish your job. It helps you through this transition. And in order to bring it to the Istanbul Design Biennial, I will design one robot here together with a person based in Istanbul. I am here right now to find a person to collaborate with while making this robot. For me, it was important that it is related to the city and the market here. Right now, I am figuring out whom to collaborate with, but at the same time, I am also connecting to makers and people that can help us while making the robot.

TK: Thinking on digital technologies and machine learning, do you believe that the future of work will be fully automated? Or do you think it will be a transition? What is your position for the future?

OR: I hope it will be a soft transition. One of the aims of my project is to help this transition. I don't think it will be in a long far future, I think it is already happening, maybe it is, for now, not that visible. There are different numbers that researchers talk about, but the estimations are in the next 30 years 20-50% of our jobs could be automated. I think what is important is not to refuse or to get afraid. I don't think we have a chance to stop this process and I don't think it even makes sense. I think it is about using this as a chance to actually redesign our connection to work and labour, see how we can get one step in the direction of humanity and what it means to be human while asking what we would do with our time if we worked less.

TK: Have you ever been to Istanbul before? Have your perception or professional thoughts been changed by this field trip?

OR: No, I have never been to Istanbul before. I am quite amazed by the city. What I find interesting as a designer is to observe that there is still so much human labour happening where it is at the same time not visible in the output that a human made it. We went to the Şişhane district where they produce the lamps, all kinds of lighting. For me, it was interesting to see that in different rooms everyone produces another part of the lamp with their hands. But if you see the lamp in the end, it looks like an industrially produced lamp. It is a very different understanding of craftsmanship than the one we have in Germany. Crafted objects are mainly seen as luxury products in Germany. There is a distinction in terms of the aesthetics between industrially produced products and the handmade products. But the way the craftsmen work in Şişhane is super quick. I also observed that it is more important to them that everything looks perfect.

TK: What is your take-away from this field trip so far? How did Istanbul educate you?

OR: Istanbul is like a huge playground. It is pretty amazing that you can find everything in the city centre so close to each other. There is so much inspiration. The very important aspect of a school is to inspire people and Istanbul is like an open library. In Germany, I sometimes go to museums or libraries to get inspired. Here, I feel I can just walk around because every street is very different.