Join us for this three-part talk series on the 9th and the 23rd November and 14th December organised as part of the ongoing University of Brighton Design Archives research theme “Global Archival Cultures of Design,” run by Zara Arshad, Research Officer, and Sue Breakell, Archive Director, with support from the Centre for Design History. This event will take place online (MS Teams).

Free and open to all, please register here to receive joining links.

About the series:

What contexts and imperatives produce archives of design? What work is the design archive doing, or being asked to do? And what might these kinds of repositories do through the development of new networks and fresh research? Additionally, how have design archives historically approached and defined “design”? And how have these definitions and interpretations encouraged omissions and erasures in the archive?

Part of an ongoing University of Brighton Design Archives research theme called Global Archival Cultures of Design, this three-part online events programme connects with recent work in the Centre for Design History, including the Design Archives in Asia symposium (June 2021). The talks, which will take place throughout November and December 2022, will bring together designers, curators, archivists, and researchers to consider the current state of the design archive in different global contexts. Presentations will discuss theoretical and practical questions, and consider how a focus on “archival cultures” might challenge, augment or complement existing histories of design and design research.

Acknowledging the fluid meanings of the term “archive” as it is used in different contexts, this project defines “archives” as records generated in the practice of design and its networks: records which document how design in its broadest forms happens. Where such records are not present, it considers materials that might do the same work. We invite both our speakers and audiences to adapt, expand and challenge this definition.

 *Event title inspired by Tai Cossich, with thanks.

Programme:

Session 1 – Theories, Methodologies and Praxes
Date/Time: 9 November 2022, 16:00-17:30 (GMT)
Chair: Sue Breakell (University of Brighton)
Speakers:

• Zara Arshad (University of Brighton)
• Setareh Noorani (Het Nieuwe Instituut)
• Eduardo Augusto Costa (Universidade de São Paulo)

Session 2 – Regions In-focus
Date/Time: 23 November 2022, 09:30-11:00 (GMT)
Chair: Zara Arshad (University of Brighton)
Speakers:

• Sang-kyu Kim (Seoul National University of Science and Technology)
• Shirley Surya (M+)
• Livia Rezende (UNSW Sydney)

Session 3. Representation, Gaps and Erasures in Design Archives
Date/Time: 14 December 2022, 14:30-16:00 (GMT)
Chair: Megha Rajguru (University of Brighton)
Speakers:

• Tai Cossich (Royal College of Art)
• Mark Okyere (University of Bern + Bern Academy of the Arts)
• Elli Michaela Young (University of Brighton)
• Dora Souza Dias (University of the Arts London)

For further information, and to register, visit the CDH blog.

Image credit: Graphic design from around the world on display in the foyer of the second Icograda Congress, Bled, Slovenia (then Yugoslavia),1966. Cat.No. ICO-21-2-2-1. Icograda Archive, University of Brighton Design Archives.