La Habana 2000

La emergencia de
las historias regionales

Presentación
[English version below]

El tema elegido para tratar en esta segunda Reunión es de alguna manera consecuencia de lo debatido en la primera. Quedó claro entonces que historiar el diseño en la actualidad plantea una serie de problemas metodológicos y teóricos inéditos los cuales son más importantes cuando se consideran las historias concretas en los distintos países y realidades sociales. También la historia del diseño como disciplina afronta problemas nuevos en cuanto a la definición de su objeto de estudio.

Para que ese planteamiento tan general no se interprete en unos términos tan reductivos como los que se desprenden del debate entre identidad y globalización, la Reunión se estructurará en base a Grupos de Trabajo organizados en función de actividades profesionales que actualmente desempeñan los historiadores, los estudiosos y los investigadores del diseño.

Ahora bien, si en la primera estos grupos respondían exclusivamente a la realidad profesional para que en ellos se pudieran compartir los problemas que cotidianamente afrontan los que se dedican a ello, es voluntad de esta segunda abrir campos de debate entorno a problemáticas concretas con tal de poder perfilar así aquellos temas clave que centrarán la 3ª Reunión cuando se celebre. Es el caso de los grupos 3 y 6 previstos en esta ocasión.

 

 read more / leer más 

[PDF] Palabras Pre/Post/liminares, Lucila Fernández


English version

The aim of the second Conference is to build on the foundations established at the first: to provide a forum for theory-centred research presentations for scholars and researchers already working at design schools and design research centres. A year ago we were particularly keen to meet colleagues in that field, and now we hope to expand the communication network that came into being at the Barcelona conference. The need to set up a forum to exchange experiences and to stimulate cooperation is as great as ever.

The emergence of regional histories
Today, design history has to face many methodological and theoretical problems, most of which have never been addressed before, due above all to the inevitable differences in approach in different countries and cultures. Moreover, design history itself has to respond to new questions regarding the acknowledgement of its own aims and methods of study. Such a general questions could be shared among researchers of the different local histories. In the other hand, the theme of the second Conference is closely linked to that of the first.

At the Barcelona Conference it was suggested that the conception of design history may vary when seen from the perspective of the mainstream, the universal history, or when seen from peripheral areas such as southern Europe or Latin America. The high points of the development of design in the latter areas are known, but its history is rarely understood as a continuous flow of events in which these high points take on meaning. It is the aim of this conference to supplant the narrow approach to the idea of identity, and in order to avoid simplistic debates on identity and globalization, we feel that regional histories and realities should be discussed through working groups dealing with the different aspects of the question, set up in accordance with the professional activities of historians and researchers involved. There will also be new working groups of a different kind, devoted to discussing particular issues which may well provide valuable suggestions as to the subjects to be addressed at the 3rd Conference.

Working groups:

  1. Historic trends: Historical trends, methodological approaches and theoretical points of view that are key to the construction of regional histories. Research works which try to find links between different regions concerning global/local questions.
  2. Design Studies: Methodological questions related to research as well as approaches from other disciplines (of a more theoretical nature than history) that take design as their main subject for study.
  3. Art, Architecture and Design in 20th Century History: The connections between art and design have been a major topic for designers and scholars for many years. In theory these connections seem clear enough, but the problematic relationships of the two areas throughout the twentieth century have never been studied on their own.
  4. Teaching Design: Local References / Global References in Teaching Planning: How global references have influenced local teaching design systems in different countries. The history of teaching design and its methods.
  5. Design Museums, Collections and Exhibitions: Producing catalogues and ways of documenting exhibits.
  6. The Design/Technology Dialogue and its Historical Treatment: How to introduce the history of technology as a specific item of design.