Design/History/Revolution Conferenmce
New School, NYC, April 27-28, 2012

CFP: Design/History/Revolution
Deadline: December 7, 2011
Conference: April 27 & 28, 2012, The New School, NYC

Keynote speaker: Barry Bergdoll, The Philip Johnson Chief Curator of
Architecture & Design, The Museum of Modern Art

Whether by providing agitprop for revolutionary movements, an
aesthetics of empire, or a language for numerous avant-gardes, design
has changed the world. But how? Why? And under what conditions? We
propose a consideration of design as an historical agent, a contested
category, and a mode of historical analysis.

This interdisciplinary conference aims to explore these questions and
to open up new possibilities for understanding the relationships among
design, history and revolution.

Casting a wide net, we define our terms broadly. We seek 20-minute
papers that examine the roles of design in generating, shaping,
remembering or challenging moments of social, political, economic,
aesthetic, intellectual, technological, religious, and other upheaval.
We consider a range of historical periods (ancient, pre-modern, early
modern, modern, post- and post-post-modern) and geographical locations
(“West,” “East,” “North,” South,” and contact zones between these
constructed categories). We examine not only designed objects (e.g.,
industrial design, decorative arts, graphic design, fashion) but also
spaces (e.g., architecture, interiors, landscapes, urban settings) and
systems (e.g., communications, services, governments). And we welcome
a diversity of disciplinary and inter-disciplinary approaches.

This conference brings together scholars from the humanities,
sciences, and social sciences with designers, artists, and other
creators. We hope not only to present multiple methodological
approaches but also to foster conversations across traditional
spatial, cultural, and disciplinary boundaries.

We list some possible subject areas below, and encourage you to
propose others:

Design and political / cultural / economic revolution..... Design and
technological revolution…. Design and the print revolution

Design and government…. Design and social movements…. Design and
surveillance…. Design and empire….

Design and historicity…. Design and the sacred…...Design and the avant-
garde…..

Design and memory…. Design and philosophy/philosophies of design….
Design and literature / literature of design….

Design and the everyday…. Design and consumerism… Design and education….

Designed landscapes…. Design and the environment…Design and the city….

Design and science … Design and cybernetics ….

Please submit a 250-word abstract (maximum) and 1-page CV to: designhistoryrevolution@gmail.com