Guest Lecture Series “Research Practice Dialogue”
The lecture series is part of the efforts to formalize and strengthen design research at Muthesius Academy of Fine Arts and Design (MKH). It will:
- Compliment existing guest lectures
- Support the development of Doctoral Studies in Design
- Widen exchange with international design researchers
Background
At MKH, there are already many guest lectures covering diverse themes from multiple perspectives. The Kunst- und Designdiskurs and Forum offer critical discussions from a scholarly perspective and the Interface Salon and invitations from Design present state-of-arts best practices and debates from a designerly perspective. Despite these important foundations, the developmental changes in design research worldwide and at MKH call for an additional guest lecture series.
“Research” and “Practice” were arguably the most important words in academic design discourse in the last 20 years. These were spoken often in the context of developing design research at the University. Currently there are a number of models established: Research Through Design, Practice-Led/Based Research, Project-Grounded Research, and Constructive Research. They all share the ideas that designing is a form of inquiry which has its own particular methods and subject matters that should be capitalized. Secondly, they see that designing should form a (major) part of design research and should generate trustworthy knowledge to serve and renew practice.
Despite resistance, confusions and problems; design-research-cum-practice is now generally tolerated if not accepted as legitimate by the international academic design community. The most notable evidence is the establishment of the so-called Practice-Based PhD.
MKH has been a member of the Excellent Cluster (a prestigious German federal research funding scheme) for some years. It should be mentioned that MKH is the only Art and Design College that holds such a privileged position and MKH Design is a frequent award-winning institution. It suffices to say that the expertise, the accumulated knowledge and experiences create a fertile ground for further systematic development. The time has come for a regular, organized and focused discussion on design research at MKH.
The ‘Dialogue’ seeks to bring diverse speakers, positions and themes to MKH. The speakers range from established experts to interesting youngsters from Europe and Germany. Each semester is dedicated to one theme and has four lectures.
