Through a combination of historical research and a series of research visits, this visual essay r... more Through a combination of historical research and a series of research visits, this visual essay reflects on how Estonian memorials, related to the Second World War; are discursive-material assemblages, that function as floating signifiers. Grounded in a post-structuralist theorization of contingency, overdetermination and discursive struggle – particularly inspired by Laclau and Mouffe’s (1985) work – the notion of floating signifiers captures the significatory diversity of key concepts which have become integrated in different (and competing) discourses. By extending this framework to recent theoretical expansions that aim to validate both the discursive and the material (Carpentier, 2017), also the floating of discursive-material memorial assemblages can be incorporated into this analysis. This article, in particular, focusses on the discursive-material struggles over the articulation of the Estonian Second World War hero in the Estonian memorialscape, at a time when the Estonian government has been removing a considerable number of Soviet memorials from the Estonian public space (and plans to remove more). Beginning with the argument that not every Estonian Second World War memorial has been subjected to this discursive-material struggle, we then analyse the discursive-material struggle over the Soviet hero and the Waffen-SS hero, together with the remarkable absence of memorializations of the independent Estonian (nationalist) hero. In a case study, we zoom in on how a prestigious military decoration, the Cross of Liberty, becomes a significant illustration of the workings of the floating signifier, playing a role in both mainstream and radical-right-wing discourses about the Estonian hero during the Second World War. In our conclusion, we reflect about the absence of closure on what is the past, present and future of Estonia, and the ethical concerns that this absence raises.
Narva is a small regional town playing a neuralgic role in European geopolitics and history on it... more Narva is a small regional town playing a neuralgic role in European geopolitics and history on its eastern-most border. Remote from regional capital cities – by the Baltic Sea and between Tallinn and St Petersburg, depending on the perspective – it holds a centrality which became evident again after the reinforcement of the European Union and NATO borders with Russia in 2022. Once a lively international industrial epicentre, home to the Kreenholm Manufacturing Company, whose ruins sit in an island in the middle of the Narva River, which separates Estonia from Russia, and the Baltijets factory, producing military hardware to feed the Soviet army, the city has more recently been reinventing itself as a strategic postindustrial region. It is a place where information and digital technologies, the ruins of different industrial pasts (Russian, German, Soviet, Estonian), and the powerful energy production industries are undergoing a complex transition for a more sustainable society in line with European Union policies.
Deindustrialized, re-industrialized and still feeding international energy production, the context is complex and deserves time and attention from a diversity of perspectives. Narva recently attracted the Context working group of the European Forum for Advanced Practices, a collective of artists, scholars, curators and academics researching the conditions and contexts from which experimental and creative practices emerge.
The research looked at Narva as part of the European geographical fringe, in a close reading of its post-industrial and transitioning layers, departing from artistic, design and curatorial practices and informed by the perspective of cultural critique. When the working group arrived in Narva, the Ukrainian war had just started and the context reflected the new geopolitical circumstances, complicating even further the postindustrial condition. This text is a dialogue on the notes, impressions and reflections of Inês Moreira, Pille Runnel and Ruth-Helene Melioranski, written a year after the Forum’s fieldwork visit in April 2022.
Membrana – Journal of Photography, Theory and Visual Culture, 2023
Through a combination of historical research and a series of research visits, this visual essay r... more Through a combination of historical research and a series of research visits, this visual essay reflects on how Estonian memorials, related to the Second World War; are discursive-material assemblages, that function as floating signifiers. Grounded in a post-structuralist theorization of contingency, overdetermination and discursive struggle – particularly inspired by Laclau and Mouffe’s (1985) work – the notion of floating signifiers captures the significatory diversity of key concepts which have become integrated in different (and competing) discourses. By extending this framework to recent theoretical expansions that aim to validate both the discursive and the material (Carpentier, 2017), also the floating of discursive-material memorial assemblages can be incorporated into this analysis. This article, in particular, focusses on the discursive-material struggles over the articulation of the Estonian Second World War hero in the Estonian memorialscape, at a time when the Estonian government has been removing a considerable number of Soviet memorials from the Estonian public space (and plans to remove more). Beginning with the argument that not every Estonian Second World War memorial has been subjected to this discursive-material struggle, we then analyse the discursive-material struggle over the Soviet hero and the Waffen-SS hero, together with the remarkable absence of memorializations of the independent Estonian (nationalist) hero. In a case study, we zoom in on how a prestigious military decoration, the Cross of Liberty, becomes a significant illustration of the workings of the floating signifier, playing a role in both mainstream and radical-right-wing discourses about the Estonian hero during the Second World War. In our conclusion, we reflect about the absence of closure on what is the past, present and future of Estonia, and the ethical concerns that this absence raises.
This article provides a comparison of design support landscape of three countries: the UK, Estoni... more This article provides a comparison of design support landscape of three countries: the UK, Estonia and Turkey. The economic and political development patterns and experience of design support within these countries lead to different models of design support. The differences are visible in the levels of support, aims of innovation, available resources and opportunities but also priorities. The way in which these projects/programmes are initiated, operate and sustain themselves vary as well. The article aims to understand the future of design support through looking at the versatile programmes in these countries. It provides a historical background of design support by building on specific programmes in these countries. Based on the knowledge drawn from comparison of histories of support, the paper not only makes suggestions for the development of future of design support models.
In recent decades human-centred design (HCD) has become a dominant methodology in all design disc... more In recent decades human-centred design (HCD) has become a dominant methodology in all design disciplines. HCD's core idea is to study a situation and its problems from the end-user's point of view. In parallel, design has turned from traditional products and graphics to new subject matters, mostly intangible ones, such as services, systems and policies. Within one of the emerging fields, social design, researchers and practitioners are focussing on tackling complex societal challenges. Approaching new terrains has mainly been based on the assumptions of design as a creative problem-solving activity and of design as providing solutions which fit user needs in ways that are attractive and meaningful to users. The new design field may cause new and unexpected challenges to practise and therefore its methodological framework might require enhancement. But the development and analysis of design methodologies for new design subject matters is still very thin. The aim of this paper is to initiate a critical discussion of the methodologies for a new design subject matter, namely societal challenges. The paper discusses approaches to using HCD methodology in social design to tackle wicked social problems. Through analysing HCD tools and methods in the social design context, I propose a new outline for social design methodology. The proposed new methodological framework stresses the need to study the complex character of societal challenges, to decentralise the human subject and to focus on the needs of communities and even those of the whole society. The paper has three parts: 1) the developments of the design discipline's subject matters are described as a way to understand context, 2) a brief overview of human-centred design is given to dissect the nature of contemporary common design methodology, and 3) the appropriateness of HCD methodology for contemporary design issues is discussed, and a way in which the methodology could be re-conceptualised and developed is presented for further discussion.
Nordic Baltic innovation platform for Creative Industries. Thomas Dickson, Juha Järvinen, Emilia ... more Nordic Baltic innovation platform for Creative Industries. Thomas Dickson, Juha Järvinen, Emilia Koski, Simon Clatworthy, Aija Freimaine, Ruth-Helene Melioranski, Halldor Gislason, Soley Benna Stefansdottir Nordic Innovation Centre, 2006. ...
Through a combination of historical research and a series of research visits, this visual essay r... more Through a combination of historical research and a series of research visits, this visual essay reflects on how Estonian memorials, related to the Second World War; are discursive-material assemblages, that function as floating signifiers. Grounded in a post-structuralist theorization of contingency, overdetermination and discursive struggle – particularly inspired by Laclau and Mouffe’s (1985) work – the notion of floating signifiers captures the significatory diversity of key concepts which have become integrated in different (and competing) discourses. By extending this framework to recent theoretical expansions that aim to validate both the discursive and the material (Carpentier, 2017), also the floating of discursive-material memorial assemblages can be incorporated into this analysis. This article, in particular, focusses on the discursive-material struggles over the articulation of the Estonian Second World War hero in the Estonian memorialscape, at a time when the Estonian government has been removing a considerable number of Soviet memorials from the Estonian public space (and plans to remove more). Beginning with the argument that not every Estonian Second World War memorial has been subjected to this discursive-material struggle, we then analyse the discursive-material struggle over the Soviet hero and the Waffen-SS hero, together with the remarkable absence of memorializations of the independent Estonian (nationalist) hero. In a case study, we zoom in on how a prestigious military decoration, the Cross of Liberty, becomes a significant illustration of the workings of the floating signifier, playing a role in both mainstream and radical-right-wing discourses about the Estonian hero during the Second World War. In our conclusion, we reflect about the absence of closure on what is the past, present and future of Estonia, and the ethical concerns that this absence raises.
Narva is a small regional town playing a neuralgic role in European geopolitics and history on it... more Narva is a small regional town playing a neuralgic role in European geopolitics and history on its eastern-most border. Remote from regional capital cities – by the Baltic Sea and between Tallinn and St Petersburg, depending on the perspective – it holds a centrality which became evident again after the reinforcement of the European Union and NATO borders with Russia in 2022. Once a lively international industrial epicentre, home to the Kreenholm Manufacturing Company, whose ruins sit in an island in the middle of the Narva River, which separates Estonia from Russia, and the Baltijets factory, producing military hardware to feed the Soviet army, the city has more recently been reinventing itself as a strategic postindustrial region. It is a place where information and digital technologies, the ruins of different industrial pasts (Russian, German, Soviet, Estonian), and the powerful energy production industries are undergoing a complex transition for a more sustainable society in line with European Union policies.
Deindustrialized, re-industrialized and still feeding international energy production, the context is complex and deserves time and attention from a diversity of perspectives. Narva recently attracted the Context working group of the European Forum for Advanced Practices, a collective of artists, scholars, curators and academics researching the conditions and contexts from which experimental and creative practices emerge.
The research looked at Narva as part of the European geographical fringe, in a close reading of its post-industrial and transitioning layers, departing from artistic, design and curatorial practices and informed by the perspective of cultural critique. When the working group arrived in Narva, the Ukrainian war had just started and the context reflected the new geopolitical circumstances, complicating even further the postindustrial condition. This text is a dialogue on the notes, impressions and reflections of Inês Moreira, Pille Runnel and Ruth-Helene Melioranski, written a year after the Forum’s fieldwork visit in April 2022.
Membrana – Journal of Photography, Theory and Visual Culture, 2023
Through a combination of historical research and a series of research visits, this visual essay r... more Through a combination of historical research and a series of research visits, this visual essay reflects on how Estonian memorials, related to the Second World War; are discursive-material assemblages, that function as floating signifiers. Grounded in a post-structuralist theorization of contingency, overdetermination and discursive struggle – particularly inspired by Laclau and Mouffe’s (1985) work – the notion of floating signifiers captures the significatory diversity of key concepts which have become integrated in different (and competing) discourses. By extending this framework to recent theoretical expansions that aim to validate both the discursive and the material (Carpentier, 2017), also the floating of discursive-material memorial assemblages can be incorporated into this analysis. This article, in particular, focusses on the discursive-material struggles over the articulation of the Estonian Second World War hero in the Estonian memorialscape, at a time when the Estonian government has been removing a considerable number of Soviet memorials from the Estonian public space (and plans to remove more). Beginning with the argument that not every Estonian Second World War memorial has been subjected to this discursive-material struggle, we then analyse the discursive-material struggle over the Soviet hero and the Waffen-SS hero, together with the remarkable absence of memorializations of the independent Estonian (nationalist) hero. In a case study, we zoom in on how a prestigious military decoration, the Cross of Liberty, becomes a significant illustration of the workings of the floating signifier, playing a role in both mainstream and radical-right-wing discourses about the Estonian hero during the Second World War. In our conclusion, we reflect about the absence of closure on what is the past, present and future of Estonia, and the ethical concerns that this absence raises.
This article provides a comparison of design support landscape of three countries: the UK, Estoni... more This article provides a comparison of design support landscape of three countries: the UK, Estonia and Turkey. The economic and political development patterns and experience of design support within these countries lead to different models of design support. The differences are visible in the levels of support, aims of innovation, available resources and opportunities but also priorities. The way in which these projects/programmes are initiated, operate and sustain themselves vary as well. The article aims to understand the future of design support through looking at the versatile programmes in these countries. It provides a historical background of design support by building on specific programmes in these countries. Based on the knowledge drawn from comparison of histories of support, the paper not only makes suggestions for the development of future of design support models.
In recent decades human-centred design (HCD) has become a dominant methodology in all design disc... more In recent decades human-centred design (HCD) has become a dominant methodology in all design disciplines. HCD's core idea is to study a situation and its problems from the end-user's point of view. In parallel, design has turned from traditional products and graphics to new subject matters, mostly intangible ones, such as services, systems and policies. Within one of the emerging fields, social design, researchers and practitioners are focussing on tackling complex societal challenges. Approaching new terrains has mainly been based on the assumptions of design as a creative problem-solving activity and of design as providing solutions which fit user needs in ways that are attractive and meaningful to users. The new design field may cause new and unexpected challenges to practise and therefore its methodological framework might require enhancement. But the development and analysis of design methodologies for new design subject matters is still very thin. The aim of this paper is to initiate a critical discussion of the methodologies for a new design subject matter, namely societal challenges. The paper discusses approaches to using HCD methodology in social design to tackle wicked social problems. Through analysing HCD tools and methods in the social design context, I propose a new outline for social design methodology. The proposed new methodological framework stresses the need to study the complex character of societal challenges, to decentralise the human subject and to focus on the needs of communities and even those of the whole society. The paper has three parts: 1) the developments of the design discipline's subject matters are described as a way to understand context, 2) a brief overview of human-centred design is given to dissect the nature of contemporary common design methodology, and 3) the appropriateness of HCD methodology for contemporary design issues is discussed, and a way in which the methodology could be re-conceptualised and developed is presented for further discussion.
Nordic Baltic innovation platform for Creative Industries. Thomas Dickson, Juha Järvinen, Emilia ... more Nordic Baltic innovation platform for Creative Industries. Thomas Dickson, Juha Järvinen, Emilia Koski, Simon Clatworthy, Aija Freimaine, Ruth-Helene Melioranski, Halldor Gislason, Soley Benna Stefansdottir Nordic Innovation Centre, 2006. ...
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Papers by ruth melioranski
Deindustrialized, re-industrialized and still feeding international energy production, the context is complex and deserves time and attention from a diversity of perspectives. Narva recently attracted the Context working group of the European Forum for Advanced Practices, a collective of artists, scholars, curators and academics researching the conditions and contexts from which experimental and creative practices emerge.
The research looked at Narva as part of the European geographical fringe, in a close reading of its post-industrial and transitioning layers, departing from artistic, design and curatorial practices and informed by the perspective of cultural critique. When the working group arrived in Narva, the Ukrainian war had just started and the context reflected the new geopolitical circumstances, complicating even further the postindustrial condition. This text is a dialogue on the notes, impressions and reflections of Inês Moreira, Pille Runnel and Ruth-Helene Melioranski, written a year after the Forum’s fieldwork visit in April 2022.
the Second World War; are discursive-material assemblages, that function as floating signifiers.
Grounded in a post-structuralist theorization of contingency, overdetermination and discursive struggle – particularly inspired by Laclau and Mouffe’s (1985) work – the notion of floating signifiers captures the significatory diversity of key concepts which have become integrated in different (and competing) discourses. By extending this framework to recent theoretical expansions that aim to validate both the discursive and the material (Carpentier, 2017), also the floating of discursive-material memorial assemblages can be incorporated into this analysis.
This article, in particular, focusses on the discursive-material struggles over the articulation of the Estonian Second World War hero in the Estonian memorialscape, at a time when the Estonian government has been removing a considerable number of Soviet memorials from the Estonian public space (and plans to remove more). Beginning with
the argument that not every Estonian Second World War memorial has been subjected to this discursive-material struggle, we then analyse
the discursive-material struggle over the Soviet hero and the Waffen-SS hero, together with the remarkable absence of memorializations of the independent Estonian (nationalist) hero. In a case study, we zoom in on how a prestigious military decoration, the Cross of Liberty, becomes a significant illustration of the workings of the floating signifier, playing a
role in both mainstream and radical-right-wing discourses about the Estonian hero during the Second World War. In our conclusion, we reflect
about the absence of closure on what is the past, present and future of Estonia, and the ethical concerns that this absence raises.
Deindustrialized, re-industrialized and still feeding international energy production, the context is complex and deserves time and attention from a diversity of perspectives. Narva recently attracted the Context working group of the European Forum for Advanced Practices, a collective of artists, scholars, curators and academics researching the conditions and contexts from which experimental and creative practices emerge.
The research looked at Narva as part of the European geographical fringe, in a close reading of its post-industrial and transitioning layers, departing from artistic, design and curatorial practices and informed by the perspective of cultural critique. When the working group arrived in Narva, the Ukrainian war had just started and the context reflected the new geopolitical circumstances, complicating even further the postindustrial condition. This text is a dialogue on the notes, impressions and reflections of Inês Moreira, Pille Runnel and Ruth-Helene Melioranski, written a year after the Forum’s fieldwork visit in April 2022.
the Second World War; are discursive-material assemblages, that function as floating signifiers.
Grounded in a post-structuralist theorization of contingency, overdetermination and discursive struggle – particularly inspired by Laclau and Mouffe’s (1985) work – the notion of floating signifiers captures the significatory diversity of key concepts which have become integrated in different (and competing) discourses. By extending this framework to recent theoretical expansions that aim to validate both the discursive and the material (Carpentier, 2017), also the floating of discursive-material memorial assemblages can be incorporated into this analysis.
This article, in particular, focusses on the discursive-material struggles over the articulation of the Estonian Second World War hero in the Estonian memorialscape, at a time when the Estonian government has been removing a considerable number of Soviet memorials from the Estonian public space (and plans to remove more). Beginning with
the argument that not every Estonian Second World War memorial has been subjected to this discursive-material struggle, we then analyse
the discursive-material struggle over the Soviet hero and the Waffen-SS hero, together with the remarkable absence of memorializations of the independent Estonian (nationalist) hero. In a case study, we zoom in on how a prestigious military decoration, the Cross of Liberty, becomes a significant illustration of the workings of the floating signifier, playing a
role in both mainstream and radical-right-wing discourses about the Estonian hero during the Second World War. In our conclusion, we reflect
about the absence of closure on what is the past, present and future of Estonia, and the ethical concerns that this absence raises.