Bruce Tharp, Natalie Whittle, Philip Heidkamp, Albert Fuster and Stephanie Tharp among contributors
Images:Professor Bruce Tharp and Natalie Whittle among keynote speakers at GSA Winter School 2022
Leading international experts are joining with The Glasgow School of Art for Winter School 2022, which runs from 17 – 28 January. The 7th annual event, which is taking place online again this year due to ongoing Covid restrictions, brings together students from KISD (Koln), Elisava (Catalonia) and the GSA along with leading international experts in an exploration of what we understand by place. Each day includes a keynote address (delivered from Glasgow or Forres) and a period of collaborative work by groups of students from the three institutions.
Place is our location in the world, the site of our experience, where our physical inhabitation of existence occurs: yet how do we understand this concept, comprehend it and communicate our experience of it to others? How might we understand place as it is inhabited or shaped by others, human or otherwise? What technologies, from paintings on a cave wall, drums and percussion to Facebook’s Metaverse have been conceived to allow us to understand and exist in a place or places?
Winter School 2022 opened with a keynote address on discursive design by Bruce Tharp. A Professor and researcher at the Stamps School of Art and Design, University of Michigan, Tharp was awarded a prestigious Fulbright Scholarship for the 2021-22 Academic Year to join The Glasgow School of Art’s Innovation School where he is researching and creating a series of discursive design interventions (artifacts and interactions), to enable the public to better reflect upon and discuss with loved ones their end-of-life values, and potentially take actions toward advance care planning.
Keynote speaker on day two was the former Executive Editor of the FT’s Life & Arts, founder of Outwith Books, and author of “The 15 minute City”, Natalie Whittle, who led a discussion on the concept which holds that everyone living in a city should have access to essential urban services within a 15 minute walk or bike ride. The first week ends with a presentation bringing together the outcomes of the daily collaborative projects and panel discussion with Prof. Bruce Tharp (Stamps), Prof. Stephanie Tharp (Stamps), Prof. Philip Heidkamp (KISD) and Dr. Albert Fuster (Elisava), chaired by Prof. Gordon Hush (the GSA).
“Winter School 2022 is a moment to explore our understanding and engagement with the concept of place – regardless of where we are located,” says Professor Gordon Hush Head of Innovation School at the GSA. “It is a platform for sharing and comparing our milieux with writers, designers, students and academics across Europe and beyond. In these two weeks, we will explore different conceptions of place, how technology shapes our ability to capture and communicate our experience of place.”
“We are delighted to welcome students and staff from Elisava, who now partners in Winter School along with students and staff from long term collaborators, KISD, and our expert contributors including Professor Tharp, who is currently with the GSA on a Fulbright Scholarship and Natalie Whittle.”
Week two of Winter School 2022 will see the students either take part in discussions with contemporary practitioners exploring current issues within design practice or work in local groups on a detailed design brief. It will culminate in the creation of digital presentations/ exhibitions and a panel discussion with Professors from GSA, KISD and Elisava, as well as invited guests. Covid permitting, a third week is planned to take place at the GSA’s Highlands and Island campus in Forres in April 2022.
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For further information contact:
Lesley Booth
07799414474
@GSofAMedia