Inaugural lecture by Professor Thomas Binder
In the light of the challenges of climate change, ecological crisis and global inequalities, design is called to action not only in the design schools and within the design profession but also more broadly in the varied engagements of consumers and households, workers and industries, citizens and public institutions. With design mandated “to devise courses of action aimed at changing existing situations into preferred ones” (as famously coined by Herbert Simon as early as in the 60s), the wicked problems of today certainly both widen and deepen the relevance and scope of design engagements. Still, with design expanding and proliferating far beyond the classical realm of the design professions, it is worth considering what this contribution to change from design is and could be, and how professional design cultures participate in these engagements.
Everyone is welcome to join the lecture, which will be held Wednesday 6 October 2021 from 15:00-16:00 in Design School Kolding's Auditorium, Aagade 10, 6000 Kolding.
Following the lecture there will be a small reception.
About
Thomas Binder is professor and head of research in the Lab for Sustainability and Design at Design School Kolding. He teaches and conducts research on open design collaborations and participatory design in the context of sustainable change. His research includes contributions to methods and tools for co-design, design anthropology and experimental design research with a particular emphasis on re-thinking the design object. He is editor and author of several books such as (Re-) searching the Digital Bauhaus’ (Springer 2008), Rehearsing the Future (Danish Design School Press, 2010), Design Research through Practice (Morgan Kaufman, 2011), Design Things (MIT press, 2011) and Design Anthropological Futures (Bloomsbury, 2016). Thomas Binder chaired the Participatory Design Conference in 2002, the Nordic Design Research Conference in 2005 and the Design Anthropological Futures Conference in 2015.
