Key Ideas is an annual lecture series organised by the Design Area specifically for Camberwell College of Arts design students.

Key Ideas 3: Society – 11 May 2011

“The legacy of disconnection between contemporary art and society is being challenged by a wider rediscovery of the emancipatory nature of the art process (true of art’s function in the longer story of human societies), which is collaborative, participatory and communal, not limited to, or by, lonely agency of the individual artist.” - McGonagle D. (2007) ‘It’s art…but not as we know it! Art of Negotiation.’ Cornerhouse Publications: Manchester.

Society is the title of the third Key Ideas Symposium at Camberwell College of Arts. The event will explore a range of critically important issues and themes relating to design, art and society.

The aim of the day is to create an intellectual platform for students, creative practitioners and thinkers to develop an interdisciplinary conversation on the role of the art and design in and for society. Through a series of provocations the purpose of the event is to bring to the table notions on the role of the artist/designer in the creation, growth and shaping of our built environment, communities and cities, through an exploration of theoretical concepts and practical approaches. The day will include talks, discussions and a practical workshop.

This occasion is intended as a space for critical debate, investigation and experimentation of ideas and concepts that relate art/design and their many contexts to society – in the public ream, environmentally, as notions, as a subversive tool, as utopias, on the streets and in communities.

As designers, we are largely concerned with how to create communication, product, or experience that fulfills our intentions. However, with globalizations, digitalisation, and virtualisation, we begun to realise the need of a bigger question, which is, how artifacts (the facts of art) define us as humans. As designers we have influence on how humans maneuver and shape the environments and rituals through implements – homo faber; how chairs alter natural ways of congregating; to ethical concerns of how participation in the design process empowers marginalised communities. Within a fluid social field the contemporary creative practices are negotiating their merits through interactions, collaboration and even frictions.

The scope of Key Ideas 3: Society is deliberately broad and ambitious. Our times demand nothing less. However, the day also embraces the specific areas of expertise of our panel of speakers with practical examples of ideas in situ.

Speakers:

• Mark Davy (Director – Futurecity)
• Adrian Holme (Artist, researcher and visual theory and art history lecturer)
• Almir Koldzic (Refugee Week UK Co-ordinator)
• Fabiane Lee-Parrella (Artist, designer, founder of Flour)
• Hannah Lewis (Design researcher, social innovator, Co-ordinator of Remade in Brixton)

Workshop leaders: Fabiane Lee-Parrella and Karen Richmond.

Format:

AM: Provocations delivered by the speakers which will examine the ideas described above from their perspective.

PM: Practical Workshop: Re – Act:  Introduction of activity and public intervention.

At the end of the day: Presentation of interventions – images/photographs. Conclusion.

Become a fan of Key Ideas on Facebook.

Take a look at the Design Area Key Ideas Blog.