Category: News

EXPRESS: Digital Weaving at University of Bergen

Construction + Context:
Digital Weaving at University of Bergen
Level: MA
Credits: 4,5 ECTS
Course teachers: Kristina Aas and Tim Parry-Williams
Teaching period: 01-26 March 2021 (weeks 09-12)
WK 9: Monday – Thursday
WK 10: Tuesday – Thursday
WK 11: Tuesday – Friday
WK 12: Monday – Friday (including offsite working)

Location: KMD Textile workshop (Bergen) / Innvik AS (Stryn)

Number of available places for Kuno/Cirrus students: 3

How to apply: Please send a motivation letter (outlining relevant skills, experience, and rationale), CV and digital portfolio (4-6 works) to tim.parry-williams@uib.no  
Deadline: 20 January 2021

Course Description

Students will be introduced to the theories of advanced woven construction, through multiple warp and weft systems, layers and complex structures in order to create motif and image-based outcomes.

Workshop practice will include direct exploration and sampling of key principles with TC-1 and TC-2 jacquard, and digital dobby looms.

Software introduction will include: WeavePoint, Nedgraphics (Texelle / Product Creator) and the use of Photoshop, as a portfolio of digital tools.

Training will also support the development of outsource-ready digital files.

A study trip to a weaving factory will facilitate the observation and production of individual ideas at full-scale.

Goals and contents

  • Establish understanding of multiple warp / weft systems.
  • Develop working competency with relevant digital software.
  • Build capacity to translate ideas to outsourced production.

Teaching and Learning Methods

Lectures. Workshop-based research and development. Industrial trialling and production. Group and individual tutoring. Peer critique.

Aspects of the course may be delivered through online activity.

Learning outcomes

  • Advanced understanding of key principles of woven textile construction.
  • Cognitive skills in translating ideas from artistic concept to production.
  • Professional skills in research, development and execution of projects.

Requirements for prior knowledge

  • Internal (KMD) applicants: Minimum of BA1 Textiles Introduction and Core Course completions. 
  • External applicants: MA level only (Woven textiles training essential)
  • Expression of Interest through a motivation letter outlining relevant skills, experience, and rationale.

Additional costs for the trip to Innvik factory (travel and accommodation + meals), and textile production must be covered by the participating students.

Grant: 330 EUR travel (Iceland 660 EUR) + 70 EUR a weekly

Please note: COVID-19 makes the course a possible subject to late minute changes. The course requires physical presence, as we will not offer a full digital version of this course. If travel restrictions and quarantine regulations make physical presence impossible, participation will be cancelled.

A New Year – New Normal or No Normal

CIRRUS TALK Vol 3
January 25, 2021
14 – 15.30 CET – Sweden, Norway, Denmark
15 – 16.30 EET – Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia
13-14.30 GMT – Reykjavik
Sign up here
Hosted by: Martin Sønderlev Christensen, PhD, Head of institute at the Royal Danish Academy, board member of CIRRUS

2020 was a very challenging year for everyone, the effect of the corona virus has been an apparent challenge and has had massive ramifications on our students and faculty ability to do what we normally do. Excluded from campus’, labs and workshops, distanced from each other. Doomed to be Zoomed. We have been partaking in a huge experiment. And one that isn’t over yet.

2020 however was more than the COVID-19 pandemic. we saw #metoo movements reemerging, ethnicity as a topic in movements “like black lives matter”, post colonialism, norm critic, cancel culture. we saw the full effect of fake news and the age of misinformation and surveillance economy, we saw climate change changing as the world globally came to a full stop in the scary light of the pandemic. We saw radical new ways of working and living with distance and massive social compliance. Just to mention a few events. This leaves us looking into 2021 with the sense of a new normal or perhaps even … a time of no normal. A sense of hope or despair?

  • How does design and design education adapt to these massive changes and emerging movements?
  • How do our students body respond to this in their work?
  • How does this affect our organizations? Our curriculum? Our way of teaching?
  • In short, what challenges and what opportunities are there for design having left 2020 and entered 2021?

How could the Nordic and Baltics play a significant role in taking design to the forefront of how we move on towards a better world? 

Martin Sønderlev Christensen, PhD, Head of institute at the Royal Danish Academy, board member of CIRRUS, will kick things off with some thought-provoking observations, speculations and even predictions about our near future landscape for design educations and research institution. 

Based on these topics we’ll break in an open space format into smaller groups to discuss different topics, aiming to return with some tangible propositions for how design is og need to be changing,  what role the Nordic and Baltics design community could have in a new to no normal world, and how CIRRUS could help.

Join us January 25, 14 – 15.30 CET/ 15 – 16.30 EET, sign up here by January 24!

Open post in Umeå Institute of Design

Universitetslektor på konstnärlig grund i industridesign – tillika prefekt för DesignhögskolanVill du leda en av Sveriges mest internationella och innovativa akademiska institutioner?
Söker du en framåtsträvande och öppen miljö där du kan utveckla din egen forskning inom designområdet?
Som universitetslektor och prefekt på Designhögskolan vid Umeå Universitet får du möjlighet att både undervisa och forska, samt vidareutveckla ett unikt lärosäte i skärningspunkten mellan det lokala och det globala med ett tydligt skandinavisk arv. Sedan starten 1989, har Designhögskolan byggt sitt rykte genom fokus på öppenhet, nyfikenhet och samarbete med målet att bidra till en positiv, hållbar utveckling av det globala samhället. Som en del av Konstnärligt Campus (KC), beläget vid Ume älvs strandpromenad i centrala Umeå, har Designhögskolans framtida ledning stora möjligheter att skapa nya, starka synergier med sina systerinstitutioner, Arkitekthögskolan och Konsthögskolan. Ta chansen och bli en del av en av Sveriges mest kreativa utbildningsmiljöer! Sista ansökningsdag är 1 februari 2021, läs mer och ansök genom att följa länken nedan: https://umu.varbi.com/se/what:job/jobID:369479/

Linda Bresäter
Ställföreträdande prefekt / Deputy head of department
Designhögskolan / Umeå Institute of Design
Umeå universitet / Umeå University
SE-901 87 Umeå, Sweden
+46 (0)90-786 88 19 / +46 (0)720-85 27 90

Call for CIRRUS/Nordplus projects 2021

Intensive Student workshop in summer

CALL for project applications to Nordplus Higher Education Programme through CIRRUS network
DEADLINE: January 25, 2021, to be sent to sandra.mell@artun.ee
(Nordplus deadline is Feb 1, 2021).

We kindly ask your project descriptions along with the budget file in order to insert it in the application system of Nordplus. Please use Nordplus Handbook (pages 26 – 34) or turn to CIRRUS coordinator or your international coordinator at home to find out more.

The type of projects that we are waiting for are:
1. INTENSIVE COURSES (please use the forms below)
Download application form 
Download budget form 
2. JOINT STUDY PROGRAMMES (please use the forms below)
Download application form 
Download budget form 
3. DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS (please use the forms below)
Download application form 
Download budget form 

MORE IN DETAIL (copied from NP handbook):

Intensive courses
Nordplus Higher Education awards grants for intensive courses lasting between one week (five working days) and one month. Courses may take place during term time or in the summer by way of short courses, symposiums, master classes or workshops. Intensive courses must include students and academic staff from at least three different countries. The courses must yield ECTS points and must be recognised as part of the students’ degree. The number of ECTS points should be stated in the application.
PhD students may act as teachers on intensive courses. They are not eligible for a grant if they are students in the programme. The same intensive course can be granted Nordplus funding for three consecutive years but annual applications must be submitted. It is recommended that the hosting institution is rotated.

Examples of past CIRRUS intensive courses: 
Urban Gaming
Nature Design and Innovation. Imprint
Traditions and Innovation

Joint study programmes
Nordplus Higher Education awards grants for development of joint study
programmes.
Nordplus joint study programmes are defined as follows:
– Programmes are full-degree study programmes established according
to national legislation.
– Programmes lead to a degree recognised by national authorities.
– Degree certificates with a Diploma Supplement are issued according to
national legislation.
– Mobility is integrated into the programme setup.
– Programmes are developed jointly, and all courses and study units
should be approved by all participating parties.
– The collaborative venture is governed by a signed agreement defining
its aims as well as the roles of the participating parties.
The same joint study programme can be granted Nordplus funding for three consecutive years but annual applications must be submitted. Joint study programmes are complex processes. HEIs can combine Nordplus and Nordic Master grants in various ways. More information on Nordic Master is available on www.nordicmaster.org. The website consists
also of many useful handbooks and guides on joint programmes.

Development projects
Nordplus Higher Education offers grants for innovative development projects within the field of Higher Education.
Apart from joint curriculum planning and joint
modules, projects may focus on issues such as:
– Collaboration with the labour market
– Quality assurance
– The dissemination and use of results achieved by networks and projects
– The development of collaborations with other institutions in the public
or private sectors as well as non-governmental organisations (NGOs)
within Higher Education
– The development of new teaching methods.
The same project can be granted Nordplus funding for three consecutive years but annual applications must be submitted.

CIRRUS TALK vol 2. Online Admission

The second 2 hour conversation:
ONLINE ADMISSION: 
hosted by Design School Kolding  
Lone Dalsgaard André, Vice Rector and Head of Cirrus Board
Wednesday, October 28, 2020, 14.00 CET (15 EET / 13 GMT)
Check your local time here.

Many of us transformed our admission process for 2020 to include digital functions or to be conducted completely online.

During this Cirrus talk we will share our experiences with this new format and discuss questions such as:

  • How can we secure the well-being of the applicants during the online application process?
  • How can we support the applicants to do experiments on their own but with help?
  • How can we help the applicants to be the best version of them selves and do their best? 
  • How far can we take online admission process?

Lone Dalsgaard André will share the experiences from Kolding and we will have group discussions and work on some tasks.

Please sign up here due October 23.
Seats: 20
The talk will take place on Zoom.
Link will be sent to those who registered on October 26.

Further information: Sandra Mell
CIRRUS network coordinator

EKA MA GRAPHIC DESIGN CONFABULATIONS #1: Cait McKinney, “Publishing as Queer Praxis: Lesbian Feminist Infrastructures” 30 September, 5:00pm EET


MA in Graphic Design at Estonian Academy of Arts invites:
GRAPHIC DESIGN CONFABULATIONS #1: Cait McKinney, “Publishing as Queer Praxis: Lesbian Feminist Infrastructures”30 September, 5:00pm EET (4:00pm CET / 10:00am EST / 7:00am PDT) twitch.tv/ekagdma

Cait McKinney, “Publishing as Queer Praxis: Lesbian Feminist Infrastructures”In this book talk drawn from Information Activism:  A Queer History of Lesbian Media Technologies (Duke, 2020), I outline how lesbian feminists in the U.S. and Canada approached publishing as an information practice key to establishing a foundation for their movements, and building more livable lives for lesbians. Focusing on newsletters, bibliographies and indexes, I show how activists created and circulating information as a world-making process when access to information was otherwise precarious. 
Cait McKinney is Assistant Professor of Communication at Simon Fraser University, the author of Information Activism: A Queer History of Lesbian Media Technologies (Duke, 2020), and coeditor of Inside Killjoy’s Kastle: Dykey Ghosts, Feminist Monsters, and other Lesbian Hauntings (UBC, 2019). McKinney is interested in how queer social movements use digital technologies to build alternative information infrastructures. Their current research is on activist responses to early online content regulations; the intertwined histories of AIDS Activism and digital technologies; and the ways sexuality has been used to explain data and databases since the mid 20th century.

ABOUT GRAPHIC DESIGN CONFABULATIONSA series of speakers taking an oblique look onto graphic design and its outlines in order to re-think, destabilize or decenter its normative structures and practices. By prioritising that which has taken place in the margins, ephemerally, despite oppression and in dissent, we will seek to widen the circumference of design practice. To see where else design has and can happen; how social and political movements have manifested in visual cultures; and ultimately to develop a sense of self-reflexivity toward our own privileges and positions.
Future lectures will include speakers Silas Munroe (14 Oct), and Ayasha Guerin (25 Nov), with more to be announced.
The lectures are free, open to the public, and closed caption supported.All lectures will be streamed live from twitch.tv/ekagdma
GRAPHIC DESIGN CONFABULATIONS is a new free online public lecture series presented by the MA in Graphic Design program at the Estonian Academy of Arts, curated by Rosen Eveleigh, and partly supported by the CIRRUS Nordic-Baltic Network of Art and Design Education and Nordplus. 

Open posts: Umeå University, Sweden

The Faculty of Science and Technology at Umeå University, Sweden, announces 5 tenure-track positions as Assistant professor. Two, or more, of these could be in the fields of design and architecture, respectively. At the Umeå Institute of Design, we would be very happy to see applications that align with our research interests and hope that this will be a nice opportunity to have new colleagues joining us. Application deadline is 19 October, 2020.

For more information and applications links for the position, please see the ad on the Faculty web pages: https://www.aurora.umu.se/en/units/scitech/announcements/five-tenure-track-positions-as-assistant-professor2/

And for more information about the research environment at the Umeå Institute of Design, please see our own home page:  http://www.uid.umu.se/en/research/research/

Design for NEED + FashionSEEDS, Sept 17, 2020

Prof Piret Puppart, head of EKA Fashion Design. Photo: Mark Raidpere

The Fashion Department of EKA would like to invite you to participate in the conference Design for NEED + FashionSEEDS on
September 17th as part of Tallinn Design Festival.

The program will explore issues related to design education, in particular,how we can make teaching more relevant and meaningful in terms of sustainability. The conference will present the results of the FashionSEEDS project to the general public for the first time!
NB! – Pre-registration required! The event itself is free!

XV Tallinn Design Festival International Conference
Design for NEED + FashionSEEDS
/ N, 17.09. 2020  09:30-15:00 / @ Põhjala tehas


Design for need in times of climate crisis should focus on objects and services able to play a positive part in solving the issue; which would make our environment safer and more enjoyable to live in. Special attention should be given for example to highly functional objects and health-protecting, time-saving services. Yet, much of the current design is reduced to plain aesthetics or even glamour.  Indeed, beauty and form should be integral to a well-functioning product, however, and above all, design should be based on people’s and societal primary needs.   

In the first part of this conference, we will hear talks from award-winning Finnish designer Ville Kokkonen and renowned Italian industrial designer and journalist Ubaldo Spina. David Kusuma, the president of World Design Organization (WDO), will lead the day, introducing the newly launched Mars project with NASA. Estonia will be represented by the engineering chief at Transferwise, Aivar Lumberg, and the Head of Product Design at EKA, Maarja Mõtus, who will explain about the changes taking place in design education and how much the crisis has affected students.

+ FashionSEEDS 
“Design-Led Education for Sustainability” /
 
The second part of the conference will focus more thoroughly on design education. It seeks to find an answer to the question as to what type of designer is needed as Europe moves towards a climate-neutral circular economy? Practitioners, researchers and lecturers from UAL (University of the Arts London, UK), Polimi (Politécnico di Milano, Italy), DSKD (Designskolen Kolding, Denmark), and EKA (the Estonian Academy of Arts) have come together through an Erasmus+ project called the FashionSEEDS to rethink and improve the design education in the light of the challenges posed by climate change. A keynote speech from Pirjo Kääriäinen, from Aalto University on collaboration and interdisciplinarity will open the afternoon section, followed by a series of short talks on Fashion Design Education for Sustainability. A panel discussion with international academic and industry representatives, led by Piret Puppart concludes the insights of the day on how to make design education sustainable.  


The event is free of charge
Pre-register HERE!

PART 1
Design for NEED

▪️ 9:15 __ [Coffee, tea]

▪️ 09:30 __ Introduction – Ilona Gurjanova
(President of the Estonian Association of Designers)

▪️ 09:35 __ Video Greeting – David Kusuma, PhD
(President-Elect of the World Design Organization (WDO), Vice President of Tupperware)

▪️ 09:50 __ “Design for Emergencies” – Ubaldo Spina
(Researcher, industrial designer and journalist, Business Development Manager at CETMA)

▪️ 10:10___”Mission-Driven Product Building – a Story of Solving a real Need” – Alvar Lumberg
(Engineering Lead at Transferwise)

▪️ 10:30 __ “Time x Mass Weight Density” – Ville Kokkonen
(Widely recognised Finnish industrial designer)

▪️ 10:50 __ “Are the Students Prepared to Design for Need” – Maarja Mõtus
(Head of Product Design Departement at the Estonian Academy of Arts)

▪️ 11:10 __ [Lunch break]


PART 2
FashionSEEDS
“Design-Led Education for Sustainability”

The event, organised by the Estonian Academy of Arts, presents the first results of the FashionSEEDS project to the industry, design professionals and educators.

FashionSEEDS – Fashion Societal, Economic & Environmental Design-led Sustainability – is a project conducted by world-leading institutions in Fashion Education spanning over the course of three years. It seeks to develop a Design-led Framework for Fashion Design Education in Sustainability able to impact transformational changes in the Fashion System in response to the fashion industry’s severe damage to our environment. What skills does a designer need in a new, challenging time for Europe to move towards a climate-friendly circular economy? Partners from UAL, Polimi, DSKD and EKA will expand the topic to rethink and improve design education in the light of the challenges posed by climate change, social wellbeing, cultural engagement and new economic models. The event will deliver the findings of the Benchmarking Report and the Framework Document for Design-led Sustainability Education, as well as give initial insights to possible sustainability teaching materials as part of the emerging learning resource repository enabling educators to adapt and apply the framework to a range of Higher Education Institutions.

Partners:
University of the Arts London
Politécnico di Milano
Designskolen Kolding
Eesti Kunstiakadeemia

Funded by: EU Erasmus+ Strategic Partnership  

▪️ 11:45 __ Welcoming Words – Reet Aus
(Designer, Senior Researcher at EKA)

▪️ 11:50 __ Keynote Speech – Pirjo Kääriäinen
(Professor of Practice, Head of Education at Aalto University, founder of Chemarts project)

▪️ 12:10 __ Questions from the audience

▪️ 12:15 __ “Fashion Design for Sustainability – A New Foundation for Fashion Educators” – Dilys Williams
(Director of Centre for Sustainable Fashion, Professor of Academic Leadership at the London College of Fashion, UAL)

▪️ 12:35 __ “The Fashion SEEDS Benchmarking Report – A perspective on the Fashion Design for Sustainability Education in Europe” – Erminia D’Itria
(Doctoral Researcher at POLIMI)

▪️ 12:55 __” A Framework for Fashion Sustainability Education” – Julia Valle Noronha
(Associate Professor of Fashion, Co-head MA in Design & Crafts at EKA)

▪️ 13:15 __ “Tools and Activities for the Fashion SEEDS platform” – Louise Ravnløkke & Karen Marie Hasling
(Assistant Professors at DSKD)

▪️ 13:55 __ [Coffee break]

▪️ 14:10 __ Discussion Panel: Designer Skill-sets in a Climate Neutral Economy – Moderated by Piret Puppart (Professor of Fashion at EKA)

Panelists: Dilys Williams, Reet Aus, Oksana Skorbatjuk (Demand Generation Coordinator, Lindström), Kirsi Niinimäki (Associate Professor at the Department of Design, Aalto University) and Silke Lieser (sustainable marketing expert, founder of Gegenpol).

Innovation in Healthcare CIRRUS IC

Innovation in Healthcare 

Innovation in Healthcare is a real-time 5-day online intensive funded by Nordplus Higher Education proramme that aims to bring together Cirrus network students and faculty with a focus on co-design as a methodology of planning and implementing change to improve the delivery of public (health)care.

Dates: 14 – 16.9 (self-directed learning); 17.9 and 24 – 26.9 (collaborative workshops). For a more detailed day-to-day course schedule (GMT+3),  see below.

ECTS: 3

Applications deadline: 12.9.2020 (23:59 GMT+3)

Please fill out the Application Form. Admissions decisions will be made on a continuing bases and no later than 13.9.2020. The intensive has limited enrolment due to the very challenging public health conditions that continue to disrupt how we approach service design in healthcare.

__________

Held in collaboration with one of the top healthcare providers in Estonia, North Estonia Medical Centre (PERH), the intensive is to respond to the current lack of patient-driven innovation from within the Cirrus network. Designed to share and develop ideas  for urgently needed solutions as well as to build resilience post-pandemic, Cirrus students from any field of study will have the opportunity to join a dedicated IxD.ma team of their choice for fast-paced ideation, brainstorming, and prototyping with the aim of contributing to (health)care that could give patients the service and choices that they need.

Faculty:

The intensive will be co-led by Josina Vink, an Associate Professor in the Institute of Design at the Oslo School of Architecture and Design (AHO), Tanel Kärp, Head of IxD.ma at Estonian Academy of Arts, and Riina Raudne, Communications Designer, PhD, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School for Public Health

Digital Mobility:

Video conferencing (Zoom), messaging platforms (Slack), as well as virtual whiteboards (Miro) will be used throughout the intensive to apply service thinking remotely. 

Following Cirrus Digital Mobility guidelines, financial support will be available to cover direct costs such as IT-support service, hardware and/or software, as needed. Only Cirrus network universities are eligible to apply for Digital Mobility grants on behalf of their students.

Course Schedule:

Monday, 14 September

Pre-recorded lectures and design toolbox distributed

Design Teams assigned

1st Assignment (independent) / Preliminary research

Thursday, 17 September

10:00 – 12:00 Online lectures and mentoring

14:15 – 21:00 2nd Assignment (independent) / Brainstorming and Ideation

Thursday, 24 September

10:00 – 12:00 Online lectures and mentoring

14:15 – 21:00 3rd Assignment (independent) / Rapid Prototyping

Friday, 25 September

10:00 – 12:00 Online lectures and mentoring

Saturday, 26 September

11:45: – 16:45 4th Assignment (independent) / Idea Refinement