WHAT'S UP/Småland & Sápmi. Sápmi & Småland. Design histories from different geographies

In this seminar we will present the research project Design history from other geographies and the publication Småland & Sápmi. Sápmi & Småland. Design histories from different geographies that is writing history with a place rather than observing it and writing history about a specific context. It is a way of understanding design and writing history that allows for an understanding of practices in relation to the place and context where they live. This is a kind of history writing that depends on an awareness of the fact that neither history writing itself nor its institutional frameworks, as embodied by archives and museums, are neutral, but that they carry their own histories and structures, which determine what is collected and how it is described.

During the seminar, Anna Westman Kuhmunen, curator at Ájtte, the Swedish Mountain and Sami Museum, will talk about indigenification of the archive through the work with the AIDA project, or Arctic Indigenous Design Archives.

Åsa Ståhl will, departing in her article “Anchoring by Picking Stones – On Design and Economics in Småland and Other Places”, reflect on a design that is anchored in a time and place moving beyond dominant narratives and practices.

Please contact christina.zetterlund@lnu.se to sign up for the seminar.

About WHAT'S UP

It is a seminar series presenting current design research that reconsider existing paradigms and search for new paths, including for design. Through introducing current projects and experimental practices, the seminar series offers an opportunity not just to learn about important research but also to discuss if and how design can contribute to a sustainable equitable development. The invitation is open to everyone that is interested teachers, students, other active at the university and beyond. Everyone that is interested in design, change and sustainability are welcome.