NO QUO

Vinalhaven, ME — June 14–20, 2015

• Ebb and Flow Quo by Neil Patel, Peter Evonuk, Steve Bowden
• NOPLACELAND by Joshua Singer
• Dinner or Supper by Margo Halverson
• NoQuo: What I Remember I Forgot
• Driftwood by DesignInquiry
• NO-QUORSE 9 by Rachele Riley
• CAKEWALK: an Elaborate Mockery, an intercultural Act of Unequal Exchange by Margo Halverson
• NO QUO TONES by Zach Kaiser
• A random incomplete No Quo reading list by Gabrielle Esperdy
• What we’re thinkiNg abO[Q]Ut nOw : A Series of Footnotes by DesignInquiry
• Words on NO QUO. by Rachele Riley
• Grapefruit, a collaborative NO QUO postal project by Gabrielle Esperdy
• Nine Predictions of a No Quo Exchange by Denise Gonzales Crisp
• NO QUO & GRAPEFRUIT By: Gail Swanlund

Quid Pro Quo is Latin for an exchange of goods or services, where one transfer is contingent upon the other, like tit for tat. Status Quo upholds the existing state of affairs, same-old, same-old. NO QUO considers an uneven give and take, open to practices where making something out of nothing or any imbalance of expectations, power, materials or process can become a constraint as well as an opportunity. NO QUO suggests that instead of doing what’s expected, the status quo, design could be an act of going overboard and producing an excess of what’s required, or eliminating the thing altogether.

NO QUO carried on DI’s “Decade of Agitation”: it sought to agitate beyond the prescribed & patrolled borders of professional & academic design(s). Where do NO QUO relations exist and how does the designer respond? What is “counter” to “status quo”? How does NO QUO expand the conversation? What form does NO QUO take?

References:

• Stein, Maurice R, and Larry Miller. Blueprint for Counter Education. Garden City, N.Y: Doubleday, 1970. Print.
• O.P. Lyons and C.H. Healey, Publisher. The Wind (newspaper) Vinalhaven, ME.
• Ono, Yoko. Grapefruit. Tokyo, Japan: Wunternaum Press, 1964. Print.
• Ulrich Obrist, Hans. DO IT.