This four-part lecture series will address the mash-up of history, design, and technology.
At some point we stop seeing and experiencing what we live with, becoming blind to the familiar – things, systems, even problems in our surroundings. Design thinking can shift our vision, literally making what is straight in front of us visible again.
WHERE : The University of the Arts
Hamilton Hall
320 S. Broad St., Phila PA
COST : Free. Seating is limited.
REGISTER : Click here to register.
Regina Lee Blaszczyk
Tuesday, February 7th
6:00PM – 7:30PM
From Parlor to iPhone: Our Gadgets, Our Identities
An award-winning design historian, Blaszczyk explores the hidden meanings of the things we use every day. Her whirlwind tour of 150 years of consumer culture highlights the invisible links between the Victorian parlor and the I-want-it-now culture of Apple, Facebook and Twitter. Our ancestors used “cultural hardware” like furniture and bric-a-brac to express themselves, while we use “cultural software” like eBooks, videogames, and apps to create personal space. The technology is different, but the impulse to personalize one’s surroundings is the same.
Thaddeus Squire
Tuesday, February 21st
6:00PM – 7:30PM
Hide and Seek
Founder of Hidden City Philadelphia – festival, online magazine, tour company – Squire will address the yearning for history in pop culture: from the prison fantasies of Piranesi to Mayan expedition drawings, and Indiana Jones, National Treasure and Tomb Raider. And from the retro-chic of Restoration Hardware and Anthroplogie to online gaming, and the emerging photo genre of “ruin porn”.
Dan Marcolina
Tuesday, March 20th
6:00PM – 7:30PM
Revealing the Obvious
Mad App Alchemist and internationally recognized designer and photographer, Marcolina is author of the critically acclaimed book and iPad series “iPhone Obsessed”. He will expose how the combination of picture choice and multiple app processing can transform everyday snapshots into remarkable statements. Booksigning following the lecture.
Cynthia E. Smith
Tuesday, April 3rd
6:00PM – 7:30PM
Design with the other 90%: Cities
With her recent exhibitions at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum and the United Nations, Smith helped spark international dialogue on the opportunities to utilize technology and design to help poorer communities “leapfrog” into the 21st century. Traditionally designers had focused on the 10% of the population that could afford their goods and services. Now, a new wave of designers, architects and engineers is working to solve the world’s most critical problems as urban populations in the developing world grow at unprecedented rates. Book signing following lecture.
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