18.08.08
Leading thinkers and designers to speak at the Networks of Design International Conference

Over 250 leading international thinkers and designers will converge at Tremough Campus for a four-day international conference hosted by staff and students of the MA 20th Century Art & Design: Histories & Theories course at University College Falmouth. The conference, which takes place between 3rd – 6th September, will explore and expand on the growing interest in the fields of design history, technology, humanities and the social sciences, in the 'networks' of interactions that inform design.

Leading social theorist Professor Bruno Latour, whose influential work on network theory includes seminal publications such as 'Iconoclash: Beyond the Image - War in Science, Religion & Art and Reassembling the Social: An Introduction to Actor Network Theory', will deliver the opening keynote lecture on Wednesday 3rd September. He will be joined by the journalist, researcher and academic, Jeremy Myerson, who is currently Director of the Helen Hamlyn Centre and Professor of Design Studies at the Royal College of Art, London and Jan Konings, founding designer for Droog Design.

Commenting on the conference, Fiona Hackney, Course Leader of MA 20th Century Art & Design said: "This conference offers the opportunity for academics to explore the fascinating shift that is occurring within design history, away from a discipline that studies prescribed objects, individuals and processes towards a wider investigation of mass consumption, mediation, identity, material culture and the meaning of things. Our hope is that it will encourage a more collaborative and inter-connected approach to design."

The conference schedule consists of more than 45 sessions covering topics as diverse as graphic language and identity; transport systems and public and interior spaces to emerging sustainabilities; virtual communities and enigmatic things & crafts and counter-culture.

The conference is open to everyone to attend and offers the opportunity to join the debate. To book a place and for further information please visit www.networksofdesign.co.uk or email networksofdesign@falmouth.ac.uk or telephone 01326213834.

An exhibition at The Poly, Falmouth, entitled Re-imagining Cornwall: Networks and Narrative, will run in tandem with the conference and focus on key moments in design in Cornwall from the past to the present, including: archive film, mining artifacts, images of arts and crafts including Crysede fabrics and oral histories from some of the workers involved in Cornish design history. The exhibition will also include the work of students and graduates from MA 20th Century Art & Design and MA Design as well as the Interactive Art & Design (iRes) and 3D digital production (Autonomatic) research clusters.

For further information about MA 20th Century Art & Design at University College Falmouth, please visit www.falmouth.ac.uk/20centuryartdesign, email admissions@falmouth.ac.uk, or telephone Admissions on 01326 214360.

In April 2008, University College Falmouth merged with Dartington College of Arts to create a new institution focusing on the expansion of Falmouth's expertise in Art, Design and Media and Dartington's expertise in Choreography, Music, Theatre, Art and Writing. The merger will pave the way for a new specialist Arts University in Cornwall in 2012, creating a Higher Education institution unique to the South West.

University College Falmouth is a founding partner in the Combined Universities in Cornwall (CUC), a unique initiative to promote regional economic regeneration through Higher Education, funded mainly by the European Union (Objective One), the South West Regional Development Agency, and the Higher Education Funding Council for England, with support from Cornwall County Council.

For further information about University College Falmouth, visit www.falmouth.ac.uk.

For further information please contact Jilly Easterby, Head of Public Affairs, University College Falmouth on 01326 213792 or email jilly.easterby@falmouth.ac.uk.

The Objective One Programme for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly has invested in the Combined Universities in Cornwall (CUC) project, both Phase 1 and Phase 2, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the European Social Fund (ESF). University College Falmouth is a partner of the CUC.

Editor's notes:

Clare Morgan
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cmorgan@cornwall.gov.uk

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