Thomas Markussen

Thomas Markussen is Associate Professor and Co-Founder of the Social Design Unit, at the University of Southern Denmark. In his work, Markussen focuses on how design can be used as a political and critical aesthetic practice, notably in the fields of social design, design activism and design fiction. The Social Design Unit design with and for vulnerable societal groups within healthcare, correctional services and citizen participation in public space.
Markussen’s publications include journal articles such as “Poetics of design fiction” (co-authored with Eva Knutz); “The disruptive aesthetics of design activism: enacting design between art and politics” (Design Issues); “Disentangling the ‘social’ in social design’s engagement with the public realm” (CoDesign); and “The politics of design activism – from impure politics to parapolitics” appearing in the Routledge book Design and Political Dissent: Spaces, Visuals, Materialities.