Complementary Intellectual Histories: The Design Turn and Scientific Knowledge Production

Abstract This article situates the concept of the design turn within two complementary intellectual histories. First, the “cultural techniques research” (Kulturtechnikforschung), which emerged around the turn of the millennium within German cultural theory and media studies. This intellectual strand is characterized by an interest in cultural and scientific knowledge production that extends beyond the form of language and text, focusing on embodied, media- and tool-based practices. Second, the article refers to the Design Methods Movement of the 1960s and 1970s, which made a decisive contribution to the understanding of design in relation to research and scientific knowledge production, thus anticipating the design turn ante litteram. Taken together, these two strands form a strong conceptual basis for the design turn in the realm of scientific knowledge production and the promotion of design as a catalyst for (inter)disciplinary transformation.