An international symposium on recent European industrial and decorative design with a special strand for graduate and undergraduate design students.

Join designers, critics, scholars, manufacturers, dealers and students for a lively examination of the present and future of European decorative and industrial design in a program conceived by R. Craig Miller, the IMA Curator of Design Arts. Explore the aesthetic and conceptual ideas that have transcended national boundaries from 1985 onward, forging the international design scene we experience today. Meet a variety of leading figures in European design from multiple generations and be among the first in the world to see the exhibition European Design Since 1985: Shaping the New Century. The evolution of contemporary design will be discussed and examined in four sessions focusing on creating, manufacturing, judging, and marketing design.

The exhibition and symposium present a new lens through which to view the design scene from the late twentieth century to the present. Both the exhibition and the symposium promise to redefine two major movements—Modernism and Postmodernism—which have largely shaped European design during the last two decades.

Supported in part by the Myrtie Shumacker Lecture Fund.

Presenters include:

• Alberto Alessi (Director of Marketing Strategies and Design Management, Alessi s.p.a. – Italy)
• Jurgen Bey (Creative Director, Studio Makkink & Bey– Holland)
• George Beylerian (CEO & Founder, Material ConneXion - New York)
• Juli Capella (Director, Capella Arquitectura & Design, s.l. – Spain)
• matali crasset (industrial designer, matali crasset productions – France)
• Beatrice de Lafontaine (Director, when objects work – Belgium)
• Michele De Lucchi (architect, aMDL-architetto Michele De Lucchi Srl– Italy)
• Sylvain Dubuisson (Dubuisson Associes - France)
• Rolf Fehlbaum (Chairman, Vitra – Switzerland)
• Nasir Kassamali (Owner, LUMINAIRE® – U.S.)
• Eero Koivisto (Co-Founder, Claesson Koivisto Rune - Sweden)
• Didier Krzentowski (Owner, Galerie kreo – France)
• Susan Grant Lewin (President, Susan Grant Lewin Associates - New York)
• Catherine McDermott (Professor, Kingston University - United Kingdom)
• R. Craig Miller (curator, Indianapolis Museum of Art – U.S.)
• Cedric Morriset (independent journalist, curator and design consultant – France)
• Cilla Robach (curator, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm – Sweden)
• Jerszy Seymour (designer, Jerszy Seymour Design Workshop – Germany)
• Penny Sparke (scholar, Kingston University – United Kingdom)
• Dr. Josef Strasser (senior curator, Die Neue Sammlung--The International Design Museum Munich – Germany)
• Bernardine Walrecht (Co-founder, Dutch Design Agency - The Netherlands)
• Richard Wright (Director, Wright – U.S.)

ABOUT THE STUDENT STRAND
A special strand of Shaping the New Century: A Two-Day International Design Symposium for a national audience of graduate and undergraduate design students and design educators. Participating students will attend all regular sessions, plus four special sessions designed specifically for students.

Graduate and undergraduate design students represent the designers of today and of the future. The student strand of the symposium will provide unique opportunities for students to extend the dialogue in directions that are especially relevant to their own experiences. Student attendees will examine the exhibition European Design Since 1985: Shaping the New Century as a bridge between twentieth-century design perspectives and the present. Students will compare and contrast their own issues and ideas with the perspectives of European designers as reflected in the exhibition and through the symposium.

TICKETS AVAILABLE AT DOOR
Two Day Pass: Public $100 / Students $50
Single Day Pass: Public $50 / Students $25

AGENDA
Download the full symposium agenda.

ACCOMMODATIONS
View a listing of hotels for Symposium registrants. To receive the discounted room rate, please make your reservation by February 15, 2009.

RELATED EXHIBITION
The symposium is presented concurrently with the opening of the pioneering exhibition European Design Since 1985: Shaping the New Century.