Coffee with Designers

JP King pulls back the curtain on discard culture through intricate installations and a new video series

The work of artist-designer-educator JP King sits at the intersection of numerous design approaches. From installation art to experimental videos, each of his pieces are born out of a passion for storytelling. In conversation with Designlines, King spills on his conceptual influences, the truth about waste and his presentation at the Design TO Festival ‘Trash Talk’ Symposium.

What does it mean to be an artist-designer-educator?

I view learning experiences in the same creative and experimental way I make my art. While a lot of my work has an informative orientation, I choose to approach my teaching like performance art: the class is a stage, presentation tools are my props and my suit is a costume.

How do you choose your art medium?

I turn to video and animation when I want to visually guide my audience through a sequence of observations, but I save my more discursive and complex arguments for lectures, the classroom, and writing. With Discard Culture, I really wanted this work to be contemplative and to invite audiences to spend time thinking about waste matter. So, in that case, I’ve used photographs and video to give them a thought-provoking experience.

How can design improve Toronto’s relationship to discard culture?

We live in a world designed for a disposability mindset, and live with producer-enforced disposability.

Yet, individuals are hardly the problem compared to the manufacturers and companies that are responsible for the decisions that define waste. From a service and strategic design perspective, our governments at every level should be thinking about circular design principles and shift away from linear models and a linear economy. I also think that design can play an enormous role in awareness building. I’d love to see more designer-led shifts and policymaking in our city. JPKING.CA