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Thanks for this post! I hadn't heard about any of this in the US, but am posting links to news articles on class websites and will discuss the issues with my History of Graphic Design students. regards Liz Throop Liz Throop [log in to unmask] 404-651-0499 Assistant Professor, Graphic Design Georgia State University >>> [log in to unmask] 10/06/04 2:19 PM >>> I've sent the following letter to The Guardian in response to the extraordinary attacks on the Design Museum in the last week: "There seems to be an unspoken gender politics behind the furore about the Constance Spry exhibition at the Design Museum. Perhaps what Terence Conran, James Dyson & Stephen Bailey perceive is a feminisation (or should that be emasculation?) of the Design Museum in its recent exhibitions on fashion and the domestic sphere. Their notions of 'good' design are predicated on out-dated paternalistic, modernist, middle-class notions of taste, favouring industrial design. Whilst I don't like the way in which the Spry exhibition has been realised - it is woefully lacking in context and consequently misrepresents Spry - I want to defend the Design Museum's decision to mount it. Many of us who research and teach design history are interested in the question 'what is design'? Together with a growing number of young designers, we have been exploring the boundaries between professional and amateur design, consumption practices and popular taste. And, yes, this even includes flowers... and the Habitat chicken brick. Furthermore, in the personal attacks on Alice Rawsthorn, I am reminded of the vilification of Elizabeth Esteve-Coll at the V&A, another female museum director." These are important issues that we need to debate within the discipline. And it would be good to use the JISCmail list for discussion as well as announcements! Deborah Dr Deborah Sugg Ryan Loughborough University School of Art & Design Epinal Way Loughbrough Leics LE11 3TU +44 (0)1509 557417 [log in to unmask]