Our guest lecturers have a strong interdisciplinary background and their knowledge and expertise stretch across the entire spectrum, from the theory and history of design and fashion, art and architecture, culture and digital media and a host of crossovers along the way. We are happy to have had the participation of the following guest lecturers so far:
Prof. Penny Sparke (2013)
In January 2013 Prof. Penny Sparke (Kingston University, London) presented her research 'The Jungle in the Parlour: Plants and Flowers in the Modern Interior' at the Graduate Seminar of the Faculty of Arts VU. The lecture was introduced by Dr. Fredie Flore, Department of Art and Culture.
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Marlous Willemsen (2013)
Marlous Willemsen is Director of Imagine IC. Imagine IC is a heritage organization based in the Amsterdam Southeast area. It collects and presents the story of the super-diverse daily life of the metropolitan young. In its exhibitions and discussion programmes Imagine IC seeks to update collective memory and to contribute to an inclusive understanding of Dutch identity. In her lecture, Marlous Willemsen discussed the concept of 'super-diversity' as theoretical principal on which Imagine IC carries out its work. As such, it functioned as an example for students on how to apply theoretical principles as a means to formulate a position from which to intervene in dominant discourses about culture in general and Dutch design in particular.
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Marlous Willemsen is Director of Imagine IC. Imagine IC is a heritage organization based in the Amsterdam Southeast area. It collects and presents the story of the super-diverse daily life of the metropolitan young. In its exhibitions and discussion programmes Imagine IC seeks to update collective memory and to contribute to an inclusive understanding of Dutch identity. In her lecture, Marlous Willemsen discussed the concept of 'super-diversity' as theoretical principal on which Imagine IC carries out its work. As such, it functioned as an example for students on how to apply theoretical principles as a means to formulate a position from which to intervene in dominant discourses about culture in general and Dutch design in particular.
Zihni Özdil (2013)
"I am a junior lecturer and PhD candidate at Erasmus University's School of History, Culture and Communication. Currently I am teaching courses on the history of the Middle East and North Africa.My research centers on state-building and non-sunni Muslim religious minorities in early Republican Turkey. More specifically, my research question focuses on the interplay between state-led secularization and the formation of Alevi and 'Nusayri' identity during the 'First Turkish Republic' (1923-1960)." source
In his lecture, Zihni Özdil problematized Dutch national identity by approaching the Dutch multicultural reality from a postcolonial perspective. This was followed by a long and lively discussion into how such approaches can be employed when examining the material culture from the Amsterdam multicultural neighbourhood of the Bijlmer.
Paul Mepschen is a social anthropologist interested in populism and the politics of belonging in post-Fordist Europe. He is currently writing his dissertation, based on ethnographic field work in Amsterdam New West, focusing on the culturalization of citizenship and the construction of 'autochthony' in the Netherlands. Another focus of Mepschen's work has been the role of sexuality in the politics of culturalization. Interests include: ethnography, post-Fordism, nationalism and sexuality; the body and materiality; populism; heritage and the politics of place; modernism and modernity; time and temporality. (source)
In his lecture Paul Mepschen discussed how an anthropological approach can be used to examine contested issues of national identity and its relation to material culture. Drawing on his own research, he showed how materiality can shed light into processes of national identity formation.
Dr. Hilde Bouchez supervises MA thesis's at Design Cultures. She also lectures Design History and Contemporary Design at Sint-Lucas, Department of Architecture, Interior Architecture and Interior Design, Brussels/Ghent (Belgium). In her research she looks mainly into the dynamics in contemporary design, between production, mediation and consumption. Next to her academic activities she is design manager for the European project PROUD on Open Design and starting up a Design Hub/Fablab in the Buda Fabriek in Kortrijk (Belgium)
Dr Artemis Yagou is guest lecturer and MA thesis supervisor at Design Cultures. She is a Greek design historian and design teacher. Her research focuses on nationalism in design, on design education, on the history of dress, and on design in the context of the history of technology. She is a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Design History and the Editorial Advisory Board of The Design Journal. In 2011 she was Scholar in Residence at the Deutsches Museum, Munich, where she studied the Museum’s collection of technical toys. Her book Fragile Innovation: Episodes in Greek Design History also appeared in 2011. (more)
Dr Wessie Ling’s research deals with Chinese fashion, identities, transnationalism and modernities. Author of Fusionable Cheongsam (2007), her articles appear in Visual Anthropology, Journal of the Study of British Cultures and book volumes. She is currently preparing a volume on Transnationalism in East Asian visual cultures. Alongside writing, her artistic practice uses installations to create work that addresses the immateriality and symbolic power of fashion. She has exhibited nationally and internationally including the Victoria & Albert Museum, Plymouth City Museum and Gallery, Hong Kong Arts Centre, Austrian National Museum of Applied Arts / Contemporary Art among others. She is working on an artist show at the Brunei Gallery, SOAS (2012). Ling is a Senior Lecturer at London College of Fashion, University of the Arts London. (more)
Dr Guy Julier is guest lecturer Design Cultures. Julier is the University of Brighton Principal Research Fellow in Contemporary Design at the Victoria & Albert Museum. This post is dedicated to developing and running a research programme that addresses contemporary issues in design that also links the museum, the university and professionals in the creative industries.
Dr Damon Taylor completed his BA in The History of Design and the Visual Arts in 1993 at Staffordshire University and received a Master's Degree in Cultural Studies from Leeds University in 1995. He studied for his PhD at University College Falmouth which was concerned with the development of ‘design art’. As well as being a researcher he is an active writer and performer and his research interests include the study of commodity aesthetics, the cultural history of British pub interiors and the relationship between design and national identity.
Max Bruinsma gave guest lectures for the the course ‘Design in Words: Criticism, Writing and Theory’, 2010-2011. An independent designwriter, editor, critic and editorial designer, and former editor of Eye, the international review of graphic design in London. He studied art-, architecture- and design history in Groningen and Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Since 1985, his critical writings have featured regularly in major Dutch art- and design journals and in a range of international design publications (a.o. Graphis, Idea, Blueprint, The AIGA Journal, Eye). Before he took over from founding editor Rick Poynor at Eye, Bruinsma was editor of the Dutch design magazine Items, published several books on (graphic and new media) design in the Netherlands, and taught at the Rietveld Academy and the Sandberg Institute in Amsterdam. His latest book is 'Deep Sites, intelligent innovation in contemporary webdesign', published by Thames & Hudson, in English and French editions, april 2003.
Louise Schouwenberg gave guest lectures for the course ‘The Arts and Crafts of “Dutch” Design’ and supervised Design Cultures MA theses, 2010-2011. Schouwenberg studied psychology at the Radboud University Nijmegen, sculpture at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam, and philosophy at the University of Amsterdam and the Erasmus University Rotterdam. After establishing her career as a visual artist, from 2000 onwards her primary focus has been on design theory. She regularly writes for (inter)national art and design magazines and has contributed to a range of books, one of the latest being the monograph Hella Jongerius Misfit, released by Phaidon Press in 2010. She has been an adviser with various organisations and has incidentally worked as a curator for exhibitions on the cutting edge between design and visual arts. Since 2000 Schouwenberg has been teaching at Design Academy Eindhoven, as a tutor in the Bachelor’s programme during her earlier years, and since 2005 in the Master’s course. Currently she leads the Masters research programme Contextual Design. In 2010 she was appointed Lector (Professor) Design Theory at Design Academy Eindhoven.(more)
Frederike Huygen supervises Design Cultures theses. She also gave guest lectures for the courses ‘Design, History and Culture’ and ‘The Arts and Crafts of “Dutch” Design’ in 2010-2011. Huygen studied art history and specialized in design. She worked as design curator of the Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum in Rotterdam, was one of the editors of Items magazine, and published a large number of articles and books on design. Since 1996 she has been working as free-lance researcher and writer, and is now preparing a dissertation on the graphic designer Jurriaan Schrofer.
Dr Zsuzsanna Böröcz is guest lecturer and MA thesis supervisor at Design Cultures. She is also guest professor at the Visual Arts and Interior Architecture Departments at the Artesis University College Antwerp. Her research interests include the history and theory of applied art and (industrial) design in an architectural context form the 19th century onward. Specialist issues of interest are the artistic application of architectural flat glass, and the influence of daylight on the perception and use of communal interior spaces.
