Contrapractice
Action Against Defuturing
1st Edition
Published on 14. May 2026
240 pages
978-1-350-44852-0 (ISBN)
Description
Building on his foundational work on 'defuturing,' a deconstructive method that exposes historically the unsustainability of a great deal of design practice and its products, Tony Fry now offers a powerful response.
There is no shortage of analysis of the current state of the world. Climate change impacts are increasing, environmental destruction will follow, populations and settlements will be displaced, food security will become critical, geopolitical instability and escalating dangers of conflict will grow. Such an entangled complexity threatens life itself more seriously than at any time since the Ice Age. Against the real threats to life on Earth, what are the world's political leaders doing? The answers sit between nothing and very little.
So, what is to be done? There is no immediate or simple answer. But what Contrapractice acknowledges is that nothing changes unless practices change. The intent is for the process to take on a life of its own by the many people who care about securing a viable future. It does not provide template solutions, but the ability to act. Every reader is viewed as a communicator of its message and a change agent of their own practice. Fry's dialogue in the book with Dulmini Perera is a prompt for the book to be an object of discussion.
There is no shortage of analysis of the current state of the world. Climate change impacts are increasing, environmental destruction will follow, populations and settlements will be displaced, food security will become critical, geopolitical instability and escalating dangers of conflict will grow. Such an entangled complexity threatens life itself more seriously than at any time since the Ice Age. Against the real threats to life on Earth, what are the world's political leaders doing? The answers sit between nothing and very little.
So, what is to be done? There is no immediate or simple answer. But what Contrapractice acknowledges is that nothing changes unless practices change. The intent is for the process to take on a life of its own by the many people who care about securing a viable future. It does not provide template solutions, but the ability to act. Every reader is viewed as a communicator of its message and a change agent of their own practice. Fry's dialogue in the book with Dulmini Perera is a prompt for the book to be an object of discussion.
More details
Series
Edition
1. Auflage
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
ISBN-13
978-1-350-44852-0 (9781350448520)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
05/2026
Bloomsbury Visual Arts
€21.50
Shipment within 15-20 days
Persons
Tony Fry is Principal of The Studio at the Edge of the World, Tasmania, Adjunct Professor at the University of Tasmania, Australia and Visiting Professor at Universidad de Ibagué, Colombia. He is an award-winning designer, cultural theorist, educator and author. He has held academic positions in Australia and internationally and is the author of sixteen books, including Design Futuring (Bloomsbury, 2009); Design as Politics (Bloomsbury, 2011), Becoming Human By Design (Bloomsbury, 2012), Remaking Cities (Bloomsbury, 2017), Defuturing (Bloomsbury, 2020) and Writing Design Fiction (Bloomsbury, 2021).
Dulmini Perera is Lecturer and Researcher at Bauhaus University, Weimar, Germany. She works at the intersection of critical theory, design theory and systems/cybernetics research, and is the recipient of the Heinz von Foerster award (2021). She has written and edited a number of publications including the co-edited book The Space of Technicity (forthcoming, 2023) and the co-edited Footprint journal volume Engaging Cosmotechnical Difference in Architecture and Urbanism (forthcoming, 2024). She is a member of award-winning design and research teams in Sri Lanka and internationally.
Dulmini Perera is Lecturer and Researcher at Bauhaus University, Weimar, Germany. She works at the intersection of critical theory, design theory and systems/cybernetics research, and is the recipient of the Heinz von Foerster award (2021). She has written and edited a number of publications including the co-edited book The Space of Technicity (forthcoming, 2023) and the co-edited Footprint journal volume Engaging Cosmotechnical Difference in Architecture and Urbanism (forthcoming, 2024). She is a member of award-winning design and research teams in Sri Lanka and internationally.
Content
Preface
Acknowledgements
Opening Dialogue, Tony Fry and Dulmini Perera
Introduction: Defuturing, Practice, Contrapractice, Tony Fry
1. Defuturing Now, Tony Fry
2. On Practice, Tony Fry
3. Contrapractice in the End Times, Tony Fry
4. Reflections and Projections, Tony Fry
Closing Conversation, Tony Fry and Dulmini Perera
Appendices, Tony Fry
Appendix 1. On an elaboration on Bourdieu's understanding of habitus
Appendix 2. Michel de Certeau and Practices of Everyday Life
Appendix 3. Peter Sloterdijk's Theory of Practice
Appendix 4. Technology revealed and cybernetics stripped bare
Appendix 5. Degrowth/Regrowth
Glossary
References
Index
Acknowledgements
Opening Dialogue, Tony Fry and Dulmini Perera
Introduction: Defuturing, Practice, Contrapractice, Tony Fry
1. Defuturing Now, Tony Fry
2. On Practice, Tony Fry
3. Contrapractice in the End Times, Tony Fry
4. Reflections and Projections, Tony Fry
Closing Conversation, Tony Fry and Dulmini Perera
Appendices, Tony Fry
Appendix 1. On an elaboration on Bourdieu's understanding of habitus
Appendix 2. Michel de Certeau and Practices of Everyday Life
Appendix 3. Peter Sloterdijk's Theory of Practice
Appendix 4. Technology revealed and cybernetics stripped bare
Appendix 5. Degrowth/Regrowth
Glossary
References
Index
