Designing mutualistic interfaces - Frederick Van Amstel
How do interfaces shape the way we relate to each other?
Interfaces are not only screens. They are also doors, counters, classrooms, streets, waiting rooms, and public squares.
They organise how we enter, how we are seen, how we respond to one another, and whether mutual recognition can take place at all.
This lecture is part of the Symbiotic Hospitality program
Join Frederick van Amstel for a lecture on mutualistic interfaces: digital, analogue, and spatial forms of design that create room for presence, accountability, and more inclusive ways of relating.
Digital interfaces have replaced so many face-to-face interactions that we almost forget what we are missing. As users, we take action, send orders, and sometimes hurt other people without even knowing whose faces are on the other side of the "inter-face". This habit is extending to analogue interfaces as offline actions increasingly follow online patterns. People are losing their ability to make eye contact, share full presence, and mutually recognize each other.
Most contemporary interfaces have a specific design that habituates users to adopt dress codes, roles, avatars, algorithms, and other kinds of social masks. In that way, systemic user oppression, or users oppressing other users, effectively hides or distracts from the injustices that sustain large-scale inequality systems.
Within these systems, it is still possible to design otherwise. In this lecture, Dr. Frederick van Amstel shares his research on designing mutualistic interfaces, interfaces that enable mutual recognition among users. Reflecting on participatory design projects involving analogue and digital interfaces he worked on in the Netherlands, the US, and Brazil, Frederick evaluates what worked and what didn't in practice. Also, he provides a glimpse of the interface design theory he is developing with his peers at the Design & Oppression Network.
Why attend
This lecture is for designers, creative professionals, cultural organisations, educators, researchers, and students who want to think more critically about:
- how interfaces shape behaviour, recognition, and power
- why inclusive messages can still exclude through their medium or format
- how spatial design, pedagogy, and communication act as interfaces too
- what design can do differently in cultural, educational, and institutional contexts
What to expect
Drawing from participatory design projects in Brazil, the United States, and the Netherlands, Frederick van Amstel shares his research on designing mutualistic interfaces: interfaces that enable mutual recognition among users. Reflecting on participatory design projects involving analogue and digital interfaces he worked on in the Netherlands, the US, and Brazil, Frederick evaluates what worked and what didn't in practice. Also, Frederick provides a glimpse of the interface design theory he is developing with his peers at the Design & Oppression Network.
About the speaker
Dr. Frederick (Fred) van Amstel (he/him/his) is a transdisciplinary adventurer seeking the social justice of a world that can fit many worlds.
Frederick is known in Brazil for the self-managed collectives he founded there: Faber-Ludens Interaction Design Institute, Corais Platform, and the Design & Oppression Network. Internationally, he is recognized as an emerging scholar and an editor of the prestigious journal Design Issues.
Frederick currently holds the position of Assistant Professor of Service Design and Experience Design at the Industrial Design Academic Department at UTFPR, Brazil. In the past, he was an Associate Professor of Design and Visual Communications at the University of Florida in the USA. His works can be found here.
Event details
Date: Thursday, April 23, 2026
Time: 20:00–22:00
Location: Timelab, Kogelstraat 34, 9000 Ghent
Program: Part of Symbiotic Hospitality program
Price barrier?
If cost is an obstacle, contact team@timelab.org so we can discuss the possibilities with you.
Wil je graag deelnemen aan dit programma, maar vormt de prijs een struikelblok?
Aarzel niet om contact op te nemen met team@timelab.org, dan bekijken we samen wat de mogelijkheden zijn.