This event has been moved to 29 April 2021, 13.30 BST. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause to participants.
The editorial project “World History of Design,” initiated by the late Victor Margolin, is one of the most ambitious and challenging projects in the history of our discipline. Volumes 1 and 2 were published by Bloomsbury in 2015. They are the result of Victor’s many years of teaching design history, his world travels, his library of books and catalogues collected over the years, and his friendships with designers and design historians around the world. After his passing, Sylvia Margolin and Rebecca Houze decided to continue the third and fourth volumes with a new approach. They invited diverse authors from different regions of the world to contribute chapters on specific regions, countries and times. However, what demands should a contemporary world history of design fulfil today? How can a national approach contribute to a design historiography in an age of globalisation? How can national design histories reflect transnational and local processes? And, how can they be embedded in a global discourse on design history?
This DHS virtual afternoon symposium seeks to foster exchange to find intersections and overlaps between various chapters of the World History of Design Volume 3 and identify transnational narrative strands. A second symposium exploring design histories of further countries in Volume 4, is planned. The keynote lecture on national design histories in an age of globalisation and transnational possibilities in Design History by Grace Lees-Maffei is intended to stimulate debate and provide trajectories for discussion. Various authors involved in the project will then take up the ideas and discuss transnational issues in a panel discussion.
Organisation and moderation
Davide Fornari (Associate Professor, ECAL University of Art and Design Lausanne, co-author of chapter “Switzerland 1945–2000”)
Rebecca Houze (Associate Professor of Art History, Northern Illinois University, co-editor of World History of Design, Volume 3)
Robert Lzicar (Professor of Design History, Bern University of the Arts HKB, co-author of chapter “Switzerland 1945–2000”)
Megha Rajguru (Principal Lecturer in the History of Art and Design and Cultural Studies, The University of Brighton, co-editor of World History of Design, Volume 4)
Keynote lecture
Grace Lees-Maffei (Professor of Design History, University of Hertfordshire)
Panel
Carlo Vinti (Associate Professor, Università degli studi di Camerino UNICAM, co-author of chapter “Italy 1945–2000 “)
Davide Fornari (Associate Professor, ECAL University of Art and Design Lausanne, co-author of chapter “Switzerland 1945–2000”)
Yulia Karpova (Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Copenhagen, author of chapter “(Soviet) Eastern Europe 1945–2000”)
Robert Lzicar (Professor of Design History, Bern University of the Arts HKB, co-author of chapter “Switzerland 1945–2000”)
Fedja Vukic (Professor, School of Design, Faculty of Architecture, University of Zagreb, author of chapter “Croatia 1945–2000”)
Programme - 29 April, Friday.
13:30–13:50: Welcome and introduction by Davide Fornari, Robert Lzicar, Rebecca Houze and Megha Rajguru.
13:50–14:20: Keynote lecture “National Design Histories in an Age of Globalization and Transnational Possibilities in Design History” by Grace Lees-Maffei.
14:20–14:40: Q&A with Grace Lees-Maffei moderated by Davide Fornari and Robert Lzicar.
14:40–15:10: Break.
15:10–16:00: Short presentation of transnational questions from five chapters of the World History of Design, Vol. III.
16:00–16:40: Panel discussion between the authors of those chapters, moderated by Rebecca Houze and Megha Rajguru.
16:40–17:00: Wrap-up, follow-up questions and ideas for continuing the discourse, moderated by Davide Fornari and Robert Lzicar.