We are pleased to announce the 2025 series of CDH research seminars entitled IOTA II (image-object-text-analysis). Events are free and open to all.

Centre for Design History IOTA II Seminars Autumn/Winter 2025

(image-object-text-analysis)

October 1st 2025

What is Curating?

Join the new cohort of the MA Curating Collections and Heritage students to consider this enigmatic term. We will hear from a range of practitioners, including Dr Sue Breakell (UoB Design Archives), artist and academic Dr Katy Beinhart (UoB) and curator of the recent Ancient India exhibition at the British Museum, Kajal Meghani.

Hellerup Staircase, Moulsecoomb Campus, 12-1.30pm

October 3rd

Introducing ‘On Reflection’: exhibition tour and talk

Dr Cathy Lomax, Visiting Research Fellow, Centre for Design History

Chaired by Prof Tamar Jeffers McDonald, University of Brighton

Grand Parade G4, City Campus, 12-1pm

For more information, see: https://blogs.brighton.ac.uk/centrefordesignhistory/2025/09/12/4098/

October 16th

“Sausage” Flats: Class, Building Design and Urban Planning

Dr Christine McCarthy, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand

Hellerup Staircase, Mithras House, Moulsecoomb Campus, 1-2pm

October 30th

The Discipline of Design in Cold War Brazil: Professionalization, Modernization and Authoritarianism (1947-1985)

Dr Livia Rezende, Senior Lecturer in Design History and Theory, UNSW, Sydney, and Visiting Research Fellow, Centre of Design History/Design Archives, University of Brighton

Room TBC, Moulsecoomb Campus, 12 noon-1pm

November 6th

Finding your Curatorial Voice: Contemporary Practice in Historic Institutions

Laurie Bassam, Curator: Art, Design and Craft, Brighton & Hove Museums

Hellerup Staircase, Mithras House, Moulsecoomb Campus, 4-5pm

November 13th

Curating Challenging Collections: Interpreting Eric Gill

In collaboration with Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft and the UoB MA Curating Collections and Heritage, this seminar will offer academics and museum professionals a space to reflect, learn and share strategies for curating ethically complex collections. It will feature contributions from Steph Fuller (CEO/Director, Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft), Prof Ann Sumner (Methodist Art Collection) and Prof Lesley Murray (University of Brighton).

Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft, 2.30–4pm, tickets are required – please contact centrefordesignhistory@brighton.ac.uk for details, including of coach from Moulescoomb

January 23rd 2026

Museum Visiting: Memory and Colonialism in Museum Exhibitions

Dr Andrea Potts, Goldsmiths/Visiting Research Fellow, Centre for Design History

AND

The Changing Story of Popular Photography in the National Science and Media Museum’s Kodak Gallery

Dr Jayne Knight, National Trust/ Visiting Research Fellow, Centre for Design History

Advanced Engineering Building, Moulsecoomb Campus, G1, 1pm-2.30pm

What is IOTA II?

IOTA II – IOTA stands for Image, Object, Text, Analysis, and was the title of a seminar series established by dear former colleagues Louise Purbrick and Jill Seddon. IOTA II aims to resurrect the inclusive nature of the original IOTA, bringing together students, colleagues and all interested parties from beyond the university to consider the visual and material world from a wide range of perspectives. It is a space for work-in-progress to be shared and nurtured, and for our research to be celebrated.