An interactive activity and workshop where participants will be part of the “Odd Factory”, a series of little tasks and experiences aiming to challenge the invisible work taking place in organizations, and therefore tackle inequalities, classism, and other forms of discrimination at workplaces and beyond. The event will be co-designed and delivered by the Work Futures Community, a mixed group of cleaners, librarians, technical staff, and researchers of the University of Bristol.
Traditionally, factories are associated with impersonal, repeatable production. And yet, some of them have played a key role in fostering collaboration, creativity, and alternative futures. Historically, experiments such as the Lucas Plan became moments of imagining technology from below, while, closer to home, contemporary community spaces like Knowle West Media Centre provide widened access to digital fabrication and making with surprising results.
The Odd Factory is a workshop and experience where attendants suspend their prescribed roles at work for a bit, assuming peculiar identities, and swapping roles with their peers. They then become users and planners of the Odd Factory, an imaginary factory in a state of transition. Through role play, storytelling, and material engagements, this workshop offers a somatic and collaborative approach to thinking about organizational futures by centering the experiences of those less heard.
The workshop is organized by members of the Work Futures Community, a collective of people working in cleaning, the library, and estates at the University of Bristol put together by Dr. Paris Selinas.
Dr Paris Selinas, independent designer and researcher.
Professionals working at Creative, Educational, and "Green" organisations in Bristol.
Of particular interest to those who are interested in invisible work and relations of care, the future of work, and educational commons.