Symposium: Undesign

Internationales Symposium
Ausstellungszentrum Heiligenkreuzer Hof, Schönlaterngasse 5, 1010 Wien

The symposium is convened by Björn Franke for the Department of History and Theory as part of the FWF Research Project ?Émigré Design Networks and the Founding of Social Design?, led by Alison J. Clarke.

What does it mean when the outcome of a design process is the decision not to produce an object? Is this a design decision? How can designers work outside the narrow constraints of the profession and deal with real world issues? Is design for behaviour change an appropriate tool and what are the limitations of this approach? How might ?undesign? processes be used as a medium through which to investigate a design issue?

This symposium explores new and emergent critical positions in design through the concept of ?undesign?. Led by a panel of international designers and design researchers, the symposium takes the concept of ?undesigning? to mean reducing, simplifying, removing or eliminating design (and complexity). Building on the tradition of critical design, it aims to uncover and examine new functions for contemporary design.

Speaker:

Marloes ten Bhömer, Jochen Eisenbrand, Francisco Laranjo, Ramia Mazé, Sarah Owens, Catharine Rossi, Thomas Thwaites, Maiko Tsutsumi

Programme

09.00 Welcome

09.30 Politics of (Non-)Design
Ramia Mazé, Aalto University, FI

10.00 (In)comprehensible (Un)undesign
Thomas Thwaites, Designer, UK

10.30 Coffee Break

11.00 Research as Object
Marloes ten Bhömer, Designer, UK

11.30 How to Display UnDesign
Jochen Eisenbrand, Vitra Design Museum, DE

12.00 Panel Discussion

13.00 Lunch Break

14.30 Undoing Design
Sarah Owens, Zurich University of the Arts, CH

15.00 Undesign and the Politics of Method
Francisco Laranjo, Modes of Criticism, UK

15.30 Coffee Break

16.00 After the Object: Remaking, Unmaking, Fixing and Copying as Critical Strategies in Contemporary Design
Catharine Rossi, Kingston University, UK

16.30 Reconfiguring Practices of Design and Making
Maiko Tsutsumi, Camberwell College of Arts, UK

17.00 Panel Discussion

18.00 Drinks Reception