Exploding Footnotes: Design Research in Action at SVA, NYC

Exploding Footnotes: Design Research in Action

Department of Design Research, Writing & Criticism
School of Visual Arts
136 West 21 Street, Second Floor, New York, NY

Exhibition: Wednesday, May 13–Monday May 18
Opening Reception and Live Crit: Evening of Wednesday, May 13
RSVP

“Exploding Footnotes” is an exhibition which present design research as a vital and visceral tool of critical inquiry. It features an event on May 13 in which the graduating students of the SVA Department of Design Research, Writing & Criticism deliver tightly honed presentations of their thesis work, followed by a live critique led by invited guest critics, and moderated by Nicola Twilley.

The exhibition turns the spotlight on the thesis research process. It seeks to retrieve the gold dust often buried in footnotes at the bottom of the page, to expose and examine the research trails, the behind-the-scenes travails, the legwork, the drama, the breakthroughs, doubts, and dead-ends, that are a part-and-parcel of in-depth research, but normally smoothed over by the linear narrative of scholarly writing. By zeroing in on these tiny superscript numerals and the riches they contain, we celebrate the research process as well as its products.

This year’s graduating students will showcase the diverse manifestations of the deep research that underpins their thesis projects as well as highlighting methods and approaches useful to all of interested in investigating design and its impacts. Follow the year-long journeys of these design researchers as they navigate such intertwined themes as: digital prosthetics, design piracy, publishing as performance, the branding of Space 2.0, the design of death, cognitive biases, and design education. Bodies of research will be linked and filtered by an overarching set of questions and analysis.

The exhibition is organized by the SVA MFA Design Criticism Class of 2015, collaborating with Superscript co-founder Molly Heintz, graphic designer Neil Donnelly, and architect Jens Holm, founder and director of HAO / Holm Architecture Office.