Converging Bodies of Knowledge

POTENTIAL THEMES:

• Art and design education: conflicts and synergies
• Institutions and non-institutional modes of knowledge production
• Online and offline learning environments
• Various types of art and design research
• The role of art and design practitioners within academia
• Transdisciplinary overlaps: art, design, science, and technology
• STEAM vs. the pressures of neoliberalisation (pun intended)
• New disciplinary domains and frontiers of art and design (e.g. NBIC)

Centres and peripheries

POTENTIAL THEMES:

• Critical history of art and design
• International institutions and networks of design culture
• Global power structures of modern design
• Globalised design culture
• Mainstream design culture vs. competing localities
• Local traditions and global futures
• Geopolitical tensions
• East-West dynamics in contemporary design culture
• Design cultures in the Global South
• References to capitalism and (techno-) neo-feudalism in shaping the design world and the art world
• Post-colonial theory in relation to art and design
• Autonomous design
• Art, design and gender

Redefining Data Boundaries

POTENTIAL THEMES:

• Human-Data Interaction (HDI)
• Internet of Things (IoT)
• Data physicalisation
• Interfaces for ML and AI systems
• Ethics and technology
• Generative design and art
• Dynamics of social media
• Misinformation and Tech
• Subversive data practices

Bridging Design and Economics

POTENTIAL THEMES:

• Governmental and intergovernmental policies
• Design for post-growth economics
• New business models and financing strategies
• Innovation and design
• Corporate design cultures
• Entrepreneurship
• Borders and boundaries of the creative industry
• Strategic design and design leadership
• Measuring design
• Open design and creative commons
• Sharing economy and peer-to-peer networks

The power of immersion

POTENTIAL THEMES:

• Designing an entertainment complex
• The dilemmas of UI/UX
• Expressive vs. utilitarian design
• Total aestheticization of everyday experience
• Addiction and behavioural change
• Technological hypersystems and their interfaces
• The ruling mechanisms of digital culture
• Blending realities: XR, AR and VR
• Narrative design

Speculative perspectives

POTENTIAL THEMES:

• Critical design
• Speculative design
• Post-critical and post-speculative practices
• More-than-human timescales
• More-than-human spatial complexities
• Shared agency, co-creation (digital and/or biological) and creative hybridisation
• Critiques of human-, user- and designer-centered design
• Critical and speculative posthumanism in design and art
• Philosophy of design

The future of well-being

POTENTIAL THEMES:

• Humans and their environments
• Design anthropology
• Somatic experiences in the context of design and art
• 4E cognition and design
• Designing with the human body
• Designs of the human body
• Cyborgisation
• Health in relation to design and art
• Demographic trends in relation to design
• Design challenges of aging societies
• The design of work and leisure
• Mental health and design
• The standardized body and design

Taming Entropy: Systems Design for Climate and Change

• Whole systems design
• Global systems, local solutions
• Nature-based and pro-environmental solutions
• Design of spatial justice and liveable cities
• Design for disassembly and the right to repair
• Responsibility of design and education to increase ecological awareness
• Climate transition and transition design
• Climate change adaptation and mitigation
• Net-zero scenarios
• Degrowth and a-growth
• Circular economy and circular design
• Design related to economic structures

Ways of living together

POTENTIAL THEMES:

• Communities and networks
• Participatory design and art practices
• Social design
• Design of social decision making
• Systemic co-design
• Design for politics
• Art and design activism
• Designing for equity and fairness
• Bottom-up strategies
• Civic engagement through art and design
• DIY movements

CUMULUS PHD NETWORK

Cumulus PhD Network is launching a call for short papers dedicated only for PhD students to share their doctoral research in a dynamic Pecha Kucha format during the Cumulus Budapest 2024 conference.

The PhD Network Track does not have a specific topic and is not linked to one of the conference themes. It is intended for PhD students who want to present their research and get general feedback.