Designing Socialist Modernity Symposium, London 22nd May 2012

Dear colleagues

This symposium - being  organised by postgraduate students at the Royal
College of Art in London ­ may be of interest to members of the SHERA
discussion list. The symposium is free and open to all - David Crowley
> 
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> 
> DESIGNING SOCIALIST MODERNITY
> 
> A ONE-DAY SYMPOSIUM AT THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF ART, LONDON
> 
> TUESDAY, 22nd MAY 2012
> 
> http://designingsocialistmodernity.blogspot.de/
> 
> East European post-war modernity is the object of increasing interest among
> cultural historians. Within centrally planned societies, 'designing modernity'
> was an attempt to create a material and structural basis upon which communism
> could be achieved. The social significance of designed objects, works of art,
> and the urban environment were all contested and re-conceptualized at
> different points and locations during this period.
> 
> This one day Royal College of Art symposium, ŒDesigning Socialist Modernity¹
> will explore the complex processes of emerging modernity in Central and
> Eastern Europe, including the GDR and USSR. The event brings together a
> variety of approaches from design, art and architectural history, anthropology
> and material culture studies, spanning a wide geographical area. This will
> provide a basis for discussion on how designers, craftspeople, artists,
> theorists, engineers and other specialists attempted to create a material
> basis for modernity in socialist countries after 1945.
> 
> The day will be structured around segments of a film created for the 1975
> Congress of the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design, held
> in Moscow. The film is a recording of a rehearsal of a multi-media display
> which was created to match the congress theme, ŒDesign for Man and Society¹.
> Blending images from Renaissance paintings, consumer goods' catalogues, 1895
> Lumière Brothers films and live television broadcasts, the show was intended
> to symbolize the saturation of the material environment with things and
> commodities as a consequence of modernity. The display was censored by the
> Soviet authorities shortly before the congress, and will be shown for the
> first time in its intended form: as a visual counterpoint to speeches relating
> to the design of modernity. The film brings out many themes that we hope will
> arise from the papers, questioning the role of the man-made object in post-war
> socialist societies.
> 
> The symposium will also be punctuated by short object-based presentations
> given by MA and PhD students who are researching related topics at the Royal
> College of Art.
> 
> The event takes place on Tuesday 22nd May in RCA Lecture Theatre 1 (Jay Mews
> entrance, South Kensington campus) and is followed by a wine reception. For
> details on how to get there, please visit the Royal College of Art website -
> www.rca.ac.uk.
> 
> The symposium is free and open to all. If you would like to attend, please
> email [email protected] before 8th May 2012 in order to confirm
> your place.Please give your name and, where relevant, institution, company or
> organisation, and put CONFERENCE REGISTRATION in the title of your email.
> Please also indicate whether you expect to purchase lunch in the canteen.
> 
> For information on the event and to view speaker abtsracts, please visit our
> blog at http://designingsocialistmodernity.blogspot.de/
> 
> Posters and flyers in pdf format are available on request if you are
> interested distribute information on this event.
> We look forward to seeing you
> .
> Organisers: Jessica Jenkins, Tom Cubbin, Rebecca Bell, Anda Boluza, Kasia
> Jezowska
> 
> PROGRAMME:
> Royal College of Art, South Kensington site, entrance Jay Mews, 22 May 2012
> 
> 10:00 - 10:30   Registration  (in foyer outside the main lecture theatre)
> 10:30 - 10:45   Introduction
> 
> Session 1           ASPECTS OF SOCIALIST DESIGN THEORY
> 10:45 - 11:00   Film screening (Design for Man and Society) Part I
> 11:00 - 11:30   Andres Kurg, Tallinn Institute of Fine Arts, ŒThe global
> design crisis and the multimedia program for the ICSID '75 international
> design congress in Moscow.¹
> 11:30 - 11:40   Student presentation: object in focus
> 11:40 - 12:10   Iliana Veinberga, Art Academy of Latvia, ŒHerbert Dubin and
> formulation of design theory in the Soviet Socialist Republic of Latvia¹
> 12:10 - 12:20   Student presentation: object in focus
> 12:20 - 12:40   Discussion
> 12:40 - 13:40   Lunch (available for purchase in the RCA canteen)
> 
> Session 2       ARCHITECTURE AND THE POLITICS OF SPACE
> 13:40 - 13:55   Film screening (Design for Man and Society) Part II
> 13:55 - 14:25   Blazej Brzostek, University of Warsaw, ŒPublic space and
> social history in post-war Poland [paper title TBC]¹
> 14:25 - 14:35   Student presentation, Jessica Jenkins: object in focus
> 14:35 - 15:05   Ines Weizman, London Metropolitan University ŒPrison,
> operative dossiers and other risks taken by architects in the GDR.¹
> 15:05 - 14:25   Discussion
> 15:25 - 15:50   Tea Break
> 
> Session 3       CONSUMER CULTURE AND DOMESTICITY
> 15:50  - 16:05 Film screening (Design for Man and Society) Part III
> 16:05 - 16:35  Nicolette Makovicky, University of Oxford, ŒFurniture of the
> Mind: The domestication of socialism after the Prague Spring.¹
> 16:35 - 16:45  Student presentation: object in focus
> 16:45 - 17:15  Susan E. Reid, University of Sheffield, ŒThis is tomorrow:
> Becoming Consumers in the Soviet Sixties¹.
> 17:15 - 18:00  Discussion (including general discussion)
> 18:00                Drinks reception in RCA Senior Common Room
> 
> 
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