Is this it? Alternative histories of design and the design professions

Design is said to be in a state of crisis. Artificial intelligence, neoliberal economics, environmental destruction and unstable geopolitics have created a toxic conditions in which to conduct design practice, leading some to predict the ‘end of design’. From the point of view as historians of design, this might be a good moment to take stock and evaulate methods and  approaches. Do we have the tools necessary to critically examine and respond to these major shifts? Are we adequately able to address the imbalances of power that have propped up the profession of design and been ingrained in the writing of its histories? Are we being as responsible as we need to be in getting our history to reach its audiences? How can we activate history to make it matter? What would this new design history look like?

Speakers:
Leah Armstrong, University of Applied Arts Vienna
Introduction – Design History and its Discontents

Tania Messell, Tutor, HEAD, Geneva
Design in Times of Crisis: From Catastrophic Thinking to Interscalar Responses (1970–1980s)

Kasia Jezowska, Senior Lecturer, University of New South Wales
The other things. Design histories. beyond capitalism 

Anna Talley, Tutor, Edinburgh College of Art
Design in the Digital Technoscape: How Can Design Historians Address New Logic Models Affecting Design?

Paula Arning, Research Assistant, University College Dublin
Reclaiming Modernism: Women at the Intersection of Architecture, Textiles and Fashion

Monica Titton, Senior Scientist, University of Applied Arts Vienna
Untold Histories of Fashion, Crafts, Artisanship, and Style in the Archives of Italy’s Former Colonial Museum in Rome

Stefanie Kitzberger, Senior Scientist, University of Applied Arts Vienna
Absences, Mediality, and the Politics of Reconstruction. On Friedl Dicker-Brandeis

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Buchpräsentation im Rahmen der Veranstaltung "Critical Histories of the Design Professions"

Donnerstag, 9. April 2026 – 17 Uhr
Universität für angewandte Kunst Wien Flux 1, Vordere Zollamtsstraße 7 
1030 Wien

Mit
Leah Armstrong, Institut für Design, Universität für angewandte Kunst, Wien
Chiara Barbieri, ECAL, Hochschule für Kunst und Design, Lausanne
Yun Wang, Gastwissenschaftler, Zentrum für Designgeschichte, Universität Brighton

Moderation
Kasia Jezowska, University of New South Wales und Gastwissenschaftlerin, Center for Advanced Study, Oslo

Leah Armstrong, The Industrialized Designer – Gender, Identity and Professionalisation in Britain and the United States, 1930-1980

Chiara Barbieri, Italian Graphic Design, Culture and Practice in Milan, 1930s-1960s

Yun Wang, Contemporary Chinese Graphic Design Practice

Moving beyond the age-old question, "is design an art or a profession?", the books each deconstruct and examine the conditions in which graphic designers and industrial designers worked and established identities in different historical contexts of Britain, United States, Italy and China at critical moments of cultural, political and social transition in the twentieth century. Through a discussion moderated by design historian, Kasia Jezowska, the authors will address overlapping themes and points of intersection in their work, to reflect on issues including shifting technologies, generational cultures, crisis of identity in design, economy, politics, gender, and more.

Organised and chaired by Leah Armstrong, FWF Elise Richter Senior Postdoctoral Fellow in Design History and Theory / Senior Scientist, University of Applied Arts Vienna, Principle Investigator, FWF V740, Professionalisation and its Discontents: design, 1930–1980