Contemporary art and critical perspectives in industrial design education

Abstract

In this article, the transforming impact of two contemporary art related elective courses offered to sophomore and senior industrial design students at an undergraduate industrial design program is examined. Increasing discussions indicate that industrial designers’ practice field is expanding, requiring them to pay more attention to the ecological and societal concerns impacting commons while improving use experience towards Industry 4.0. These concerns are reflected upon the educational material. In this article it is argued that exposing industrial design students to contemporary art as part of their curriculum can have an extended impact on how they perceive industrial design as part of a bigger contextual practice framework containing ecological and societal values rather than mere market concerns. In this research, responses to the introduced contemporary art related content were collected based on 48 semi-structured student interviews and student work. A thematic analysis of the reports indicated that the students’ learning experiences in the electives contributed to their self-perception as industrial designers and had a role in constructing the meaning and aim of their future professional identity.

Keywords:

• Interdisciplinary design
• design and contemporary art
• sustainability
• critical design
• design teaching

Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank Research Assistant Selin Arkan for her contribution in the exhibition ‘Once Upon a Time’ at Spot Gallery, Istanbul, 2015 as well as the students who shared their thoughts and insights about the courses; gallery owner artist Zeynep Oz and the Spot gallery staff for their generosity in offering the space; ‘designer Suheyl Onal for his contribution in finding a gallery space and helping the set up of the exhibition and Türkiye Gazeteciler Cemiyeti Basın Müzesi’ for providing their exhibition space for ‘Tangent’.

Notes

1. The course catalog of ‘Interaction Between 20th Century Modern Art and Design’ was initially designed and offered by Maryse Posenaer Erkip when she was teaching ITU (also taken by the author in her undergraduate education). Contemporary Issues in Design was a new elective offered by the author. This article is based only on the courses’ syllabi prepared by the author.

2. The syllabi of the courses are not identical but share a similar concept. Since, the courses are interdisciplinary, they were taken by several students from other departments of the School of Architecture.

3. The quotes from student feedback has been translated by the author.