Thursday 13 October 2011

Dr David Brody TVAD Visiting Researcher 2011

Dr David Brody is an Associate Professor of Design Studies at Parsons The New School for Design, New York. He directs the Masters Program in the History of Decorative Arts and Design as well as the Masters of Design Studies (launching Fall 2012). He is the author of Visualizing American Empire (University of Chicago Press, 2010) and co-editor of Design Studies: A Reader (Berg 2009). A specialist in material culture, visual culture, and design studies, Dr Brody has published writing in Prospects: An Annual of American Cultural Studies, Journal of Asian American Studies, American Quarterly, Journal of Design History, American Periodicals, and his article on hotel design and housekeeping appeared in Design and Culture in 2011. His new project is titled Do Not Disturb: Design, Hotels, and Labor. David has given papers at numerous academic conferences.


Monday 17th October

10.30 am – 12.30 pm First seminar with research degree students. AA191. Dr Brody will discuss his work, including work in progress.

2 pm – TVAD Research Group Round Table. B160.
i. interdisciplinary contexts ref. Brody and Clark, eds., Design Studies: A Reader, and the intersections of design studies, design history, art history and visual culture studies; the delimitation of subject area, e.g. what is design and what is not, and holistic and inclusive approaches to design practice and design consumption vs. specialisation;
ii. comparative histories and international research contexts ref. Brody, Visualizing American Empire, an exemplar in the comparative use of a diverse group of source materials - from newspapers to maps to objects – for piecing together the relationship between two countries (USA/ Philippines);
iii. ongoing and future work ref. Brody, Do Not Disturb: Design, Hotels, and Labor.

Tuesday 18th October

10 am – 12 pm Second seminar with research degree students. AB132. Students to give presentations about their own work.

2 pm – TVAD Reading Group. B160. Participants to circulate draft writings in advance for discussion.

5 pm – Critical Dialogues lecture: ‘Disordering Design’.
Using the examples of American empire and the hotel industry, this talk assesses design and material culture as an agent that can reinforce power hierarchies. The paper concludes with some thoughts about how specific design practices can be disordered and interrogated to foster social change.
Open to undergraduates, postgraduates and research staff, with Q&A afterwards.

Contact: Dr Grace Lees-Maffei, TVAD Coordinator, g.lees-maffei@herts.ac.uk