University of Applied Arts Vienna and The New School for Social
Research, New York
Design Anthropology: Critical Speculations, the Papanek Symposium 2023, is a collaborative online event
co-convened by Professor Alison J. Clarke (Design History and Theory, University Applied Arts Vienna) and Professor Shannon
Mattern (Media & Art History, University of Pennsylvania).
Organised by the Papanek Foundation at the University of Applied Arts Vienna and the anthropology department of
The New School for Social Research, New York, this international, transdisciplinary symposium draws on critical design politics
of re-purposing design ‘for the real world’ bringing together leading designers, thinkers and social scientists.
As we face intersecting global crises of climate emergency and public health, financial inequalities and challenges
to democratic process, the need for collaboration between anthropologists and designers to make conscientious interventions
takes on a renewed urgency. Focusing on anthropological and design research methods that open up new epistemological
and creative possibilities, that illuminate our lived experiences and imaginations, the symposium builds on the momentum of
former international cutting-edge collaborative Papanek Symposia by highlighting the global relevance of design as a practice
and process of social change.
The two-day event, organised under
the respective themes of Speculative Curatorship and Spatial Ecologies, includes the following speakers: Victor Buchli (ETHNO-ISS,
University College London); Michelle D. Commander (Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, NYC); Bodhi Chattopadhyay
(Culture Studies and Oriental Languages, University of Oslo); Elizabeth Chin (ArtCenter College of Design, Pasadena); Jonathan
M. Square (Parsons School of Design, NYC); David Jeevendrampillai (ETHNO-ISS, University College London); Nicole Cristi (Anthropology,
University College London); Elaine Gan (Science in Society, Wesleyan University) and Brandi T. Summers (Geography, University
of California, Berkeley).
Day One | 16 March 2023 | 17.00-19.00 CET
Speculative
Curatorship
17.00-17.10 CET Welcome and Introduction Rector Gerald Bast, University
of Applied Arts Vienna Alison J. Clarke and Shannon Mattern
17.10-17.30 CET Salome
Asega, Artist and Director of NEW INC at the New Museum, NYC “Collective Futures”
17.30-17.50
CET Bodhi Chattopadhyay, University of Oslo, Department of Culture Studies and Oriental Languages “From Futures to CoFutures”
17.50-18.10 CET Elizabeth Chin, Professor, ArtCenter College of Design, Pasadena, California “Speculative
Curatorship Beyond Whiteness”
18.10-18.30 CET Jonathan M. Square, Assistant Professor,
School of Art and Design History and Theory, Parsons School of Design, NYC “Envisioning the Afric-American Picture Gallery”
18.30-19.00 CET Q&A Panel Discussion
Day Two|
17 March 2023 | 17.00-19.00 CET
Spatial Ecologies
17.00-17.10 CET Welcome and Introduction Alison J. Clarke and Shannon Mattern
17.10-17.30 CET Victor Buchli, Professor, Anthropology, University College London
David Jeevendrampillai, Research Fellow, Anthropology, University College London and the Institute of Advanced Studies
“Designing for the moon; New constellations of body and home”
17.30-17.50 CET Nicole
Cristi, PhD candidate, Anthropology, University College London “Growing Materials and Cultivating Other Possible Worlds”
17.50-18.10 CET Elaine Gan, Professor, Science in Society Program, Wesleyan
University, USA “Designing With/For Change: Place As Time”
18.10-18.30
CET Brandi T. Summers, Associate Professor of Geography, University of California, Berkeley “Black City Futures”
18.30-19.00 CET Q&A Panel Discussion
The symposium is supported by Barbara Adams and Aryana Ghazi-Hessami
at The New School and Nargess Khodabakhshi at the Papanek Foundation, University of Applied Arts Vienna.
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