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MAKING/CRAFTING/DESIGNING
PERSPECTIVES ON DESIGN AS A HUMAN ACTIVITY

Design Theory Symposium
10–12 February 2011
Akademie Schloss Solitude
Stuttgart, Germany

Humans are essentially makers of things. These material artifacts 
surround us, they form our environment, and even form part of us. It is 
no longer possible to ignore that the world we live in is not a given, 
but is made by us. Alongside this realization, the world itself has 
become increasingly makeable, for example through genetic engineering, 
nanotechnology, and synthetic biology. As the resulting artifacts grow 
ever more complex, it has become crucial to understand the process and 
consequences of their production. These operations can essentially be 
understood as design processes. Within an extended notion of design 
almost all human activity is, to a significant degree, a design 
activity.

Through lectures and workshops, this symposium explores how an extended 
notion of design could be conceptualized and what the consequences for 
design as an academic discipline might be.

Speakers include Richard Sennett (New York University), Rick Poynor 
(Design Writer, London), Stephen Duncombe (New York University), Lucy 
Kimbell (Fieldstudio, London), Susanne Küchler (University College 
London), Alfred Nordmann (Technische Universität Darmstadt), and Oliver 
Müller (University of Freiburg).

For further information and registration please visit:

www.makingcraftingdesigning.com

The symposium is organized by Sarah Owens, Zurich University of the 
Arts and Björn Franke, Royal College of Art, London. It is hosted and 
supported by the art, science & business program of the Akademie 
Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart.