Last week the Unsworn Research studio was bustling with activity, as we workshopped with the City of Malmö on how to envision less car-oriented futures.

Ridiculous car trips

Last year the Street and Parks Department of Malmö urged all Malmö citizens to think again before conducting an act of “ridiculous driving”, not referring to people travelling at insane and dangerous speeds but as a response to the fact that almost half of all car trips in Malmö are shorter than 5 kilometres. These trips could, in most cases, just as well have been done by foot or by bicycle. Changing peoples’ attitudes and providing viable alternatives to car-travel before the trip or transport happens is at the core of Malmö’s so called Mobility Management initiative.

Continuing the dialogue

Last September the City asked Malmö citizens for suggestions on how to reduce car traffic in Malmö. People posted more than a thousand proposals and comments to a dedicated web forum. Suggestions ranged from extravagant sky-trains, to €100 parking fees, better bicycle infrastructure and free public transport. The City approached Unsworn Industries to come up with ideas for a follow-up campaign to these suggestions, to conceptualise “an exhibition that’s not an exhibition” - to provide action spaces for a continued dialogue.

Looking at, listening to, trying out, and co-creating possible futures

So, last week we hosted a full-day concept development workshop with people from the City as well as external, invited designers and architects. After the post-it tornado had settled, three clear themes were still standing: The upcoming campaign will be about visualising the proposals from the Malmö citizens as well as actually trying out these possible futures in short interventions. New tools for co-creating the future traffic-landscape of Malmö will also be created.

Good stuff

Ideas from this workshop will be manifest in Malmö public spaces early 2009. We at Unsworn Research have to say that admire the courage of Malmö’s Street and Parks Department in actively encouraging unconventional and provocative ideas. Hopefully we’ll be able to continue collaborating throughout the project.

Unsworn Research develops deas for energy aware, metallic creatures and meets an old friend at the Wanås opening.

Electroszim & Sons joined us this Wednesday for a session of bicyclic bodystorming. What could be more pedagogic and enlighting than a besserwisserish robot in the front saddle of your tandem bike, regularly serving you pieces of power consumption knowledge?

Österlen reunion

Celebrating Erik’s name day we drove the red 240 to lush art-park Wanås and the opening of this year’s exhibition. Nicolas “Relational Aesthetics” Bourriaud was there to add international flair to the event but the French consonants of his opening speech scattered in the warm summer breeze. This year’s exhibition theme is loss but for us it was certainly a happy reunion to again see curator Elna Svenle, who we haven’t met since winter 2006 when she kindly invited Unsworn Sound for the Four Ophones New York Tour 2006.

Unsworn Industries is awarded funds for new Telecom division.

Unsworn Research’s division for Parafunctional Payphone production has received a generous grant from the Nordic Council of Ministers to produce the first Telemegaphone, a phoneable loudspeaker post on top of Mount Heileberget by the beautiful Dalsfjord in western Norway.

Beautiful Telecom

We look forward to climbing Norwegian fjells this summer and celebrate by announcing the launch of Unsworn Telecom - a new division of Unsworn Industries wholeheartedly dedicated to developing products and services for beautiful and suprising telecommunications.