The New School participates in "Designing China"
Intensive Summer Institute in Shanghai
Explores Impact of Design in Globalizing
NEW YORK, August 21, 2009 – Interdisciplinary teams of faculty from across The New School traveled to Shanghai this month to participate in "SECT VI: Designing China," an intensive summer institute in experimental critical theory organized by the University of California Humanities Research Institute (UCHRI). This year, the institute explored issues surrounding design in a globalizing world through the lens of China’s expanding economic influence.
"In China, designers are tackling some of the most pressing challenges facing society today, as the country experiences rapid economic, social and cultural transformation," said Ben Lee, Senior Vice President for International Affairs at The New School, who is leading efforts to develop an international presence for the university. "This summer institute presented an excellent occasion to share with the broader academic community the research our faculty is undertaking in the social sciences and design disciplines."
“The increasingly important role that design plays in the 'new' China is seen in the transformation of its cities, its transition to a market economy, and increased commodity production for local and global consumption," said Ackbar Abbas, seminar co-convener and professor of Comparative Literature at UC Irvine. "Using design as the focus of this year's seminar, we needed an academic partner with a clear understanding of these complex issues. Through cross disciplinary teaming, The New School is providing some of the most creative and innovative approaches in this space."
The five seminars that The New School developed were:
Thinking the City: Delta Economies
Lopamudra Banerjee, Assistant Professor of Economics, The New School for Social Research
Victoria Marshall, Assistant Professor of Urban Design, Parsons The New School for Design
Through the merged perspectives of economics and urban design, Shanghai’s delta location and "liquid landscape" are explored as a future image for the city. Banerjee and Marshall examine Shanghai’s urban habitat "patches" to create resilient delta economies using everyday practices and local knowledge.
From T-Bills to T-Shirts: China’s Role in “High” and “Low” Fashion after the Global Economic Crisis
Hazel Clark, Dean of the School of Art and Design History and Theory, Parsons The New School for Design
William Milberg, Associate Professor of Economics, The New School for Social Research
Due to the current economic crisis and steep declines in world trade, China’s apparel sector is at a crossroads. Clark and Milberg examine fashion in the context of Chinese industrial development and explore the ways in which upgrading is likely to occur when the export market is in decline and strong indicators suggest future demand and growth will come from domestic rather than foreign sources.
“Designing China”: An Exploration of the Hutong areas of Beijing
Alison Mears, Assistant Professor of Core Studies, Parsons The New School for Design
Desiree Andrepont, Lecturer, Milano The New School for Management and Urban Policy
New building projects for the 2008 Olympics displaced 500,000 residents from Beijing's hutongs or traditional worker housing near the city center. Informed by their current work in New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward, Mears and Andrepont examine the urban value of these areas and propose alternate planning, development and financing strategies.
Visual Politics
Victoria Hattam, Associate Professor of Political Science, The New School for Social Research
Scholars have argued for decades that the appearance of order and coherence are themselves ruses of power, masking the heterogeneity that persists within all social formations. In this seminar, Hattam considers a wide range of media to consider the visual politics of modern day China.
Ethnography at the Urban Scale: Reflections on Design and the Social Sciences
Jamer Hunt, Professor of Design Strategies, Parsons The New School for Design
Brian McGrath, Associate Professor of Urban Design, Parsons The New School for Design
Jane Pirone, Associate Professor of Communication Design, Parsons The New School for Design
Vyjayanthi Rao, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, The New School for Social Research
The New School's Global Exchange Laboratory (GEL) supports project-based research that spans design intervention and ethnographic knowledge production to illuminate complex contemporary urban systems. Inspired by intelligent new media techniques, projects presented by GEL faculty reexamine the concepts of place and locality using diverse emerging global nodes such as Bangkok, Mumbai and Newark, NJ.
For more information, please visit:
SECT VI: Designing China: http://www.uchri.org/sect.php
Live blog @ http://web.me.com/shanedepner/uchrisect/Blog/Blog.html
Twitter feed @ http://twitter.com/UCHRI_SECT_09
About The New School
Founded in 1919, The New School is a legendary, progressive university comprising eight schools bound by a common, unusual intent: to prepare and inspire its students to bring actual, positive change to the world. Located in New York, but active around the world, The New School forges new paths of progress in the arts, design, humanities, public policy, and the social sciences through more than 70 graduate and undergraduate degree-granting programs, as well as through certificate programs and more than 1,000 continuing education courses offered to 13,000 adult learners every year. http://www.newschool.edu
About SECT
The Seminar in Experimental Critical Theory (SECT) is an intensive two-week summer program offered by the University of California Humanities Research Institute (UCHRI). SECT convenes distinguished instructors with a group of 40-60 faculty, graduate students, independent scholars, and public intellectuals from both the US and the international community. Neither an introductory survey nor an advanced research seminar, SECT functions as a 'laboratory' where participants at all levels of experience can study with scholars at the leading edge of creative theoretical thought. The hallmark of SECT is its attention to both 'pure' and 'applied' modes of contemporary critical theory. http://www.uchri.org
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