12th International Design and Design History Symposium

Organized by 4T Design and Design History Society, 12th International Design and Design History Symposium is set to be held under theme of "Cross(-)abilities in Design" between May 11-12, 2017 at İzmir Center of Architecture.

Those who are interested in contributing papers to the twelfth 4T Symposium are invited to submit a title and an extended abstract of 500-600 words through EasyChair by January 31th 2017. Registration to EasyChair is essential in order to submit abstracts. The symposium language is English, therefore all abstracts, presentations and papers should be in English. For any further enquiry please contact Cansu Karakız (cansukarakiz@gmail.com). Selected proposals will be announced on February 28th, 2017.

Call for Papers:

In the context of representing the other Gayatri Spivak once said:

“And I don’t think, really that we will solve the problem today talking to each other; but, on the other hand I think it has to be kept alive as a problem.”

The statement can be applied to many contexts of identification. Be it cultural, disciplinary, or individual identities, boundaries that define them are constructed rather than given. Contrary to essentialist claims, they need to be constantly questioned, deconstructed and re-formed. This year’s symposium will question the boundaries of design and the possibilities to cross-over those boundaries. Hence the title, Cross(-)abilities in Design.

It is possible to read the term cross-abilities in two different ways. First as “Crossabilities in Design”, looking at the boundaries, norms and taboos in design practice, discourse and education. The second as “Cross-abilities in Design” investigating the partnerships and the changing focus of design disciplines in a global context. In both cases the use of the term “design” is meant to evoke an identity category rather than an a-priori corpus.

In exploring the problematic boundaries of design, encountering these two contested attributions are unavoidable. In this symposium we would like to invite papers that question both attributions and keep this duality as a problem.