I just learned that in early February there will be a meeting in Weimar for the foundation of the "Gesellschaft für Designgeschichte". There was a list of about 50 founding members who want to join this event. it will be interesting to see what this new society wants to be and how they develop - while I am asking myself why our design theory community in Germany is that separated...
Oh no!
What I ask myself: are these founders mainly
A) Designers or are they
B) more connected to the human science esp. the field of history and science of art.
If it is A) it is just strategic absolute nonsense. If we split in different groups in case of slightest differences (personal, thematic or what ever), we wont get a “real” academic discipline.
If it is B) it is another example that people from other origins than design are occupying a part of the design discipline because we designers don’t farm that field properly.
My suggestion is to found different SIGs (eg. SIG “Designgeschichte”) within the DGTF. We have just the same discussion about “Designpädagogik”. I know, that some persons in DGTF are a kind of pain in the ass, but that can’t be a reason to found another academic design society. (pity enough a famous German design historic left the DGTF because of personal differences.) Lets get big enough that individual differences wont do the big points any more.
You know the joke that US-americans (I think it goes back to Kissinger) told about European foreign affairs interests? “Give me one telephone number!”
Best regards
keep cool
I think it is no problem that a new society is coming up. This is disciplinary development! As far as I know they are mainly design historians (who were not really welcome - or who did not really feel at home - in the DGTF). And as far as I know, one of their motivations for founding a separate society was to overcome the notorious colonization by the art historians. Which is ok for me.
We should dismiss the illusion that institutional structures of this kind can be designed in a top-down manner. I believe in grass-roots activities and self-organization. Some branches will grow, some will die, some will merge, ...
Sounds very worldly-wise, doesn´t it?
Jonas
Society for Design History
Well, I don't know. Of course one could just observe the development of different branches within the Design Theory community in Germany. But I really got the impression that it is still a matter of "Lagerbildung", of personal likes and dis-likes, and that the community is not really working. It is so much about politics and not about topics - and I do not know why. Currently, I don't see that much progression in Design Theory in Germany today, although I see a huge demand for design research projects and results! If we do not do design research than it is taken over by other disciplines - this is a current observation. I see this platform as a chance to just discuss outside of all these "Lager" - these different political and strategic groups. Maybe it is an illusion, let us see how this platform develops.