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Visionary design thinker John Thackara will deliver a keynote address on contemporary critical practice, setting the stage for the 15 graduating D-Crit students, who present on their thesis topics. Their topics—ranging from the design of personal memorial objects to the use of smell as a communicative tool in design and architecture, and from design and visual language in the films of Jean-Luc Godard to the applications and implications of car sharing—will fascinate, delight and provoke. We invite you to join the discussion.

The fast-paced, daylong event takes place at the new SVA Theatre, designed by Milton Glaser, and is open to the public. Join D-Crit students, program faculty, and other design professionals for a meeting of the minds that will re-chart the future of design discourse.

Event Information

When: Friday, April 30 2010, 11:00 a.m.–6:30 p.m.
Where: Visual Arts Theater, 333 West 23rd Street (between Eighth and Ninth Avenues)
Price: Free; RSVP to dcrit@sva.edu.

Details here.

On Tuesday, March 2, the MFA Design Criticism Department kicks off its spring lecture series with design curator Zoë Ryan from The Art Institute of Chicago. The design blog UnBeige raves about “the outstanding line-up of speakers,” which includes documentary filmmaker Gary Hustwit (Helvetica, Objectified) and branding authority Brian Collins. Equally noteworthy is that this series has been organized by first-year students in the department, who will also introduce the speakers.

“It always begins with people we personally find interesting,” says student Vera Sacchetti. “Students came to the table with ideas of possible lecturers, presented them to one another, and collectively curated a group of speakers that would present a variety of perspectives in the application of design criticism. They were chosen for different reasons: their backgrounds, careers, personalities and perspectives.”

“We are interested in exploring how design criticism cuts across fields,” notes student Kim Birks, adding, “The boundaries of design criticism are still being defined and that in itself is exciting.”

The complete schedule can be found here. The lectures take place at the MFA Design Criticism Department, 136 West 21st Street, 2nd floor, and are free and open to the public. Each talk is followed by an informal reception with refreshments. Reservations are encouraged and can be made at dcrit@sva.edu. For more information, please call 212.592.2228.

Ryan is a British writer and curator. Her recent exhibitions as curator at the Art Institute of Chicago include: “Konstantin Grcic: Decisive Design” (2009) and “Graphic Thought Facility: Resourceful Design” (2008). Prior to working at the Art Institute, Zoë was Senior Curator at the Van Alen Institute (VAI) in New York where she organized numerous exhibitions including “The Good Life: New Public Spaces of Recreation” (2006). Zoë is regularly called upon as a lecturer, critic and juror and her writing on architecture and design has been published internationally. She is the author of numerous publications including the forthcoming title “Building with Water: Concepts, Typology, Design,” to be published in 2010 by Birkhäuser Verlag. Zoë is an adjunct assistant professor at the School of Art and Design at the University of Illinois at Chicago where she teaches an interdisciplinary design seminar.

The Spring 2010 Design Criticism MFA Lecture Series is open to the public. You are warmly invited to attend our lectures, to see our new department and to meet with speakers, faculty members and students over a drink. Space is limited; RSVP to dcrit@sva.edu as soon as possible.

Chappell Ellison, “Considering Wall-E”

Saundra Marcel, “Advertising Takeover”

Avinash Rajagopal, “Rickshaw Wallah”

Alan Rapp, “The Look of Metal Today”

Angela Riechers, “Welcome to The Naming Convention“