Architects and designers are increasingly embracing activist roles to drive societal change, expanding their influence beyond traditional practice modes of crafting space, objects or material culture. This reflects a growing recognition of design’s potential as a driver for advocacy and political engagement. They seek to reassert the designer's role in shaping public discourse and addressing pressing societal and environmental issues. This seminar brings together leading practitioners in a conversation about the designer’s role in effecting change.

This seminar shall be convened by A/Prof Fleur Watson, Associate Professor of Interior Design, RMIT School of Architecture & Urban Design with presentations by

José Luis de Vicente (The Ocean Speaks): Curator and Cultural Researcher. Artistic Director Dhub - Disseny Hub Barcelona. Director of Museu del Disseny.
Prof Jamer Hunt - Vice Provost for Transdisciplinary Initiatives at The New School
Christina Gamboa - co-founder of Lacol Arquitectura Cooperativa and associated professor at ETSAB

Following these presentations, our respondents will engage in a conversation with the presenters. Our respondents are

Nathalie Weadick - Design Fellow and Lecturer in Cultural Policy, University College Dublin
José Sanchez - Director of Plethora-Project.com and Assistant Professor at USC School of Architecture in Los Angeles
Prof Bart Lootsma - Critic, historian and theoretician in architecture, design and the visual arts

Image Credit: Marshmallow Laser Feast, “Echoes in the Mind of the Whale” (2024). Commissioned for “The Ocean Speaks, New Ecologies and New Economies of the Sea”, exhibition at Disseny Hub Barcelona, curated by Jose Luis de Vicente.

https://www.dissenyhub.barcelo...