My area of focus has evolved; each time the emphasis shifts, I have a feeling of something solidifying, as if I'm having clarity around a larger concept, or some larger principle.
I'm pretty clearly investigating the entrepreneurial subject emerging in design studio as a result of identity-shaping discourse. Studio is a place where faculty and students talk into existence a designer as an independent, creative force.
There's a primary vector around identity discourse theory and labeling, as well as around the traditional parts of studio: form-giving, problem-solving, and project based activities. New is giving a name to the ideas of taking risks, working through ambiguity, and being self-sufficient: entrepreneurial subjectivity. The perspective of a subject brings with it a lot of weight of neoliberalism, which then drags along negative sentiment, but I don't think it has to be seen that way. I find it interesting to look at the line between "I'm on my way to becoming a libertarian tech bro" and "I can change the world through design", and where studio lives in that space.
This feels like a meaningful step from the work on studio culture, and sort of recasting and rethinking the focus on strategy and material. I wonder of "entrepreneurialism" can be thought of as a material. That's probably pushing it.