Lecture Series
Today, the concept of design is unbounded and contradictory. On the one hand, its inflation is due to a “Society of Singularities” (Andreas Reckwitz), in which products and artefacts are assigned a special status by means of an assessment regime, for which the concept of design is the godfather. On the other hand, however, conceptual inflation symbolizes a decline in values with harmful consequences: Although the design industry is growing, its core concept is atrophying and impairing the value of creative work. The lecture series attempts to introduce a history of problems, ideas and concepts between practice and theory into previous debates in order to readjust the way we talk about design. The aim is to question stuck design myths, uncover conceptual misunderstandings and adopt a historical perspective that is sometimes neglected for the present and future of design. In addition, current developments in design practice that set new accents for the understanding of design will be highlighted. The focus will be on design processes from the various areas of the design industry, such as product design, visual communication, architecture and fashion design.