Nina Serulus: Wiki Women Design

Nina Serulus: Building a feminist knowledge network. Wiki Women Design
Guest lecture by Katarina Serulus organized by the studio Art and Education, Elke Krasny

The lecture will give insights in how the Wiki Women Design project gave rise to a feminist knowledge network and reflect on the possible pitfalls and opportunities in writing feminist history through digital participation.

In October 2020 the Flanders Architecture Institute launched together with 27 partners the Wiki Women Design project. The aim of the project is to record and unlock data and knowledge on Wikipedia about women’s contributions to the designed environment in Belgium, from architecture and graphic design to fashion and decorative arts.

Many woman designers remained under the radar of heritage institutions, researchers and collectors, and thus also remained outside the mainstream canon. With Wikipedia as a platform, writing sessions as a means, 27 partner organizations and five renowned female designers as ambassadors, Wiki Women Design aims to make up for this backlog. This lecture will give insights in how the project gave rise to a feminist knowledge network and reflect on the possible pitfalls and opportunities in writing feminist history through digital participation.

Katarina Serulus studied art history and design cultures at the KU Leuven and the VU Amsterdam. In 2016 she defended at the University of Antwerp her PhD thesis entitled Design & Politics: The Public Promotion of Industrial Design in Postwar Belgium (1950-1986) that was published in 2018 by the Leuven University Press. Since 2017 Serulus works as consultant design heritage at the Flanders Architecture Institute. Serulus also (co)curated several design exhibitions in collaboration with the Flanders Architecture Institute, ADAM Brussels Design Museum and Vitra Design Museum.