Luddites Anon
| Luddites Anon | |
|---|---|
| Name | Luddites Anon |
| Location | H&D Studio |
| Date | 2026/07/22 |
| Time | 11:00-13:30 |
| PeopleOrganisations | Fred Wordie |
| Type | HDSC2026 |
| Web | No |
| No | |
This workshop is open for kids (8–12 years old). Our pedagogical assistant Ayke (NL/ENG) will be present to support the children throughout the workshop. If you would like to rsvp: send an email using this link. Information you share with us will be used only for communication and discarded after the event. More in our Privacy text :)
Luddites Anon is a workshop where we will come together to collectively share and reflect on how digital technologies impact our lives every day. Through the use of various discursive and written exercises we will form new critiques rooted in our lived experiences. Then we will play around with older writing tech as we create alternative imaginaries focused on less digitally optimised ways of being in the world.
p.s. Don't worry if you aren't sure what a Luddite is, you might just be one already.
A Tad more info 'Luddites Anon' explores both Ursula Franklin's notion of the 'Social Mortgage' of Technology and Langdon Winner's concept of 'Epistemological Luddism'. In practice, it is a space to come together to collectively share and reflect on how digital technologies impact our lives every day and culminates with us all writing playful speculative stories about how we might do daily mundane tasks without the technology we default to every day. For this part I will bring some old typewriters, I have collected and repaired, for us all to write our stories on. The aim is threefold, firstly to note the new benefits and experiences that can emerge from these speculative fictions and in so doing inspire and open up new possibilities of thought and action. Secondly to develop new critiques about the technological world, especially regarding how it would push back on these alternative ways of being. Lastly, to create new solidarities between people through the sharing of common frustrations, values, and hopes. (I will also bring copies of the book that I am making, that includes the 50ish stories I have collected from workshops over the last few months).
Timeline (~2h)
- Introduction - 10m
- Confessional Warm Up - 15m
- Experience Drafting - 10m
- Conversational Speculation - 20m
- Rose Tinted Writing - 30m
- Show & Tell - 10m
- Reflection - 15m
Access note
- Seated activity, with some movement around the room.
- No technical skills or prior knowledge needed.
- This workshop is conducted in English.
Bio
Fred Wordie is an artist, critical designer and creative technologist, whose practice uses provocative, playful and performative outputs to critique and spark debate about Technology's impact on us all.
Suggested Reading List for the Nerds
- Ellul, J. 'The Technological Society' (1954)
- Franklin, U. 'The Real World of Technology' (1990)
- Glendinning, C 'Notes toward a Neo-Luddite Manifesto' (1990)
- Le Guin, U.K. 'A Rant About Technology' (2005)
- Maurer, L. & Wouters, R. 'Designing Friction' (2024)
- Nordmann, A. 'Epistemological Luddism' (2021)
- Rushkoff, D. 'Borrow a Drill, Save the World' (2025)
- Stu 'Kill the Corporation in your Pocket' (2025)
- Winner, L. 'The Whale and the Reactor' (1986)
- Weizenbaum, J. 'Computer Power and Human Reason' (1976)
