In honor of the 100th Anniversary of the Turkish Republic, the 15th Design and Design History Symposium was co-organized by 4T Society and FMV Işık University. The symposium, which took place in Şile Campus of Işık University under the theme of “Design, Populism and Politics”, gathered designers, design historians and design researchers in person from all around the world in İstanbul. The symposium was enhanced by a keynote speech by Prof. Sarah Teasley from RMIT University School of Design.
CALL FOR PAPERS
Design is everywhere! Historically, the term design has gained currency and legitimacy in almost all disciplines, including engineering, architecture, industry, agriculture, economics, and politics. It has gained further popularity in the new millennium with the emergence of digital information and communication technologies and platforms such as social media. Due to its positive resonance, the term has been overcharged and manipulated in unprecedented ways, particularly by populist discourses and consumerist policies and practices.
Today, design is conveniently consumed by political, economic, and social mechanisms. This situation presents us with the emergence of popular phrases as diverse as parametric design, design thinking, feng shui design, wellness design, hair design, and design city. On the one hand, such appropriations further complicate conventional disciplinary boundaries and elitist definitions of design. On the other hand, in this somewhat suspect and complicated context, where everything can be produced, consumed, and marketed under design as a catchphrase, we believe it was time to revisit a fundamental question: But what do we mean by design? Instead of taking the various meanings of design for granted, we did critically explore what design has come to mean in history, theory, and practice in the face of populist and consumerist agendas. Questions proliferate:
● How does the term design operate in various political and socio-cultural contexts?
● How do various power structures attribute meaning and value to design?
● How does design embody value?
● How have academies and long-established design disciplines responded to such proliferation of meaning?
Papers were invited to problematize the meaning of design and to address these questions in contexts including, but not limited to, activism, politics, economy, everyday life, disasters, education, management, health and medicine, digital technologies, user-experience, production and consumption networks, marketing, and media. Papers grounded in specific theoretical positions were strongly encouraged.
The papers for the fifteenth 4T Symposium were invited to submit a title and an extended abstract of 800-1000 words, including a critical question/argument, theoretical/conceptual framework and research method, through EasyChair by the extended deadline of 03 July 2023. Registration to Easy-Chair was essential in order to submit abstracts. The symposium language is English, therefore all abstracts, presentations and papers were expected to be in English. Selected proposals were announced on 31 July 2023.
