CALL FOR PAPERS


Narratives of Collaborative Design


The Twenty-Eighth Annual Parsons/Cooper Hewitt Graduate Student
Symposium on the History of Design
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, New York

April 11 and 12, 2019

Design is a collaborative iterative process, and this symposium will
consider design history as narratives of collaboration. Where and how
does design come about? And how does the collaborative process itself
shape design, whether it be a piece of furniture, a vision of urban
life, or concepts of display? As a creative interaction between or
among various people, media, industries or countries, the narrative
may be practical, professional, personal, or spiritual. Often design
is the result of art or design studios, corporate teams, partnerships
(personal or professional), or committees seeking solutions to local
or international problems. New technologies require combinations of
people with diverse knowledge and skills from different places;
scientists, artists, teachers, psychologists, software experts, etc.,
can be necessary to make one design solution succeed. On a simple
level, textiles and fabrics woven in one country enable clothing
designs in other countries. Interior designers work with architects
and engineers. Sometimes design engenders a give-and-take between the
“center” and “margins” that require employing persons trained in
special crafts. Consider the varied networks involved in renovating
museums, roadways, railway terminals, airports or stadiums because of
digital innovations that make possible new forms of display,
information retrieval or entertainment. One can also look at group
memorial projects such as the AIDS Quilt that depend on myriad
individual pieces that coalesce into one story, social, political and
personal. At the same time papers might focus on how different notions
or models of partnerships emerge, or how programs award or ignore
collective thinking. Ultimately, broader issues of sustainability,
climate and the economy can only be resolved through cooperative
ventures. Collaborative design(s) become increasingly important in a
diverse world.



Topics might include:

couples/partnerships

design and issues of credit

transnational networks and systems of exchange

memorials and community planning

urban systems in relation to material culture

fabrication and industry in relation to design, labor, and distribution

production design and entertainment

users and makers

local and grassroots partnerships


Proposals are welcome from graduate students at any level in fields
such as art history, history of design, design studies, fashion
studies, history of the decorative arts, urban studies, cultural
anthropology, history of architecture, consumer studies, design and
technology, media studies, and museum studies.

The symposium's Catherine Hoover Voorsanger Keynote speaker will be

Dr. Pat Kirkham, professor emeritus at the Bard Graduate Center and
professor of design at Kingston University London (UK).


The keynote address will be given on Thursday evening, April 11, 2019,
and the symposium sessions will be held in the morning and afternoon
of Friday, April 12.

To submit a proposal, send a two-page abstract, one-page bibliography,
and a c.v. to:

Sarah A. Lichtman

Director, MA Program in the History of Design and Curatorial Studies
Parsons School of Design
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Deadline for proposals: January 21, 2019

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MA PROGRAM IN THE HISTORY OF DESIGN AND CURATORIAL STUDIES

PARSONS SCHOOL OF DESIGN
ART AND DESIGN HISTORY AND THEORY

2 EAST 91ST STREET, NEW YORK, NY 10128
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@parsonsHDCS
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