Readymade design at an Intensive Care Unit

Abstract

Marcel Duchamp invented the idea of using existing artifacts as art objects by recreating their meaning. These artifacts he called readymades. This article uses his ideas about readymades and applies them on a design project at an intensive care unit. Through negotiation with the staff and among the staff themselves the meaning of already existing artifacts was co-constructed, transforming them into educational tools in their daily work. Self-produced videos accessible through barcodes out in the context and viewed on handheld computers support their ongoing oral learning culture and function as a common point of reference where their work practice is negotiated.