LOOK Back – LOOK Forward: HfG Ulm and Design Education in India

Prof M P Ranjan

Image01: Conference Logo using a basic design assignment as an image for the conference - Design: Rupesh Vyas

Conference Title:

LOOK Back – LOOK Forward: HfG Ulm and Design Education in India

Venue & Schedule:
Hotel Taj West End, Race Cource Road, Bangalore 560 001, India
March 6, 2010 : Full-day Conference-cum-Workshop on Design Education: 9.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m.

Last date for registration: February 26, 2010

Organisers:
National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad and Bangalore
in collaboration with
Goethe-Institut/Max Mueller Bhavan (GI/MMB) Bangalore,
HfG-Archive Ulm & IfA (Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations, Germany) Stuttgart

Background:
The HfG Ulm, which started as a continuation of the Bauhaus experiments in design education under one of its former students – Max Bill, soon veered from a foundation in art to a science and society focus under the leadership of Tomas Maldonado. The HfG Ulm faculty, all eminent teachers and thought leaders in their field, experimented with design education like never before and documented the results of teaching in a series of 21 journals published between 1958 and 1968. These ten years of intense research and theory building and sharing has had a lasting impact on the world of design education and the availability of these journals being one of the major factors for this durable influence. Selected papers from these volumes located in the NID Library were reproduced for a conference on design education in 1989 by Prof Kirti Trivedi at Industrial Design Centre, IIT, Powai and these have been a further source of inspiration for Indian design teachers over the years.

The school impacted the world of design through its direct professional action with industry, memorably with Braun and its successful range of products that hit the market in 1955 and continued with other product successes that can be called the Ulm style of meticulous detailing and clean functional form. Hans Gugelot was among the lead drivers along this track. Other teachers such as Otl Aicher influenced major corporations such as Herman Miller and Lufthansa with significant contributions in graphic design.

The closing down of the HfG Ulm in 1968 saw the scattering of its faculty and students across the world, each steeped in the Ulm ideology of public good with design theory and action, resulting in significant action on the ground in the form of new design education in Latin America by Gui Bonsiepe, in India by Sudhakar Nadkarni and H Kumar Vyas and in Japan by Kohei Suguira, besides the numerous other influences in Europe and the USA that continue to this day.

The Ulmer Museum/HfG-Archiv has brought together the various threads of the Ulm school in a unique exhibition called ulm: method and design/ulm: school of design 1953-1968 with archival objects, classroom assignments and multimedia exhibits never before seen in India. The exhibition is presented in India by the Goethe-Institut/Max Mueller Bhavan, in collaboration with IfA (Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations, Germany) Stuttgart and offers the opportunity to both “LOOK Back - LOOK Forward: HfG Ulm and Design Education in India”, a title that aptly sums up the objective behind the intensive one-day conference/workshop on March 6, 2010 at Hotel Taj West End in Bangalore, India, as well as to draw inspiration from the path-breaking work at Ulm and reflect on the path forward here in India. An impressive catalogue published by Hatje Cantz (ISBN 3-7757-9142-6) provides rich background research content on the school and the exhibition.

Participants:
Design teachers and teachers from other institutes interested in design pedagogy, including design research, design management and technology & design professionals interested in design education. Limited places available for design student observers sponsored by each participating school.

Registration Fee:
Individual designers and faculty : Rs. 2000/=
Team of 5 faculty per school from India : Rs 5000/=
Design student observer : Rs. 500/= (limited seats)
International Participant : USD 100 or Rs. 5000/=

Exhibition Venue: Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath, Bangalore - opens March 5, 2010
Conference Venue: Hotel Taj West End, Bangalore – March 6, 2010

Organising Institutions
Goethe-Institut/ Max Mueller Bhavan Bangalore
Dr. Evelin Hust, Director
National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad & Bangalore
Prof. Pradyumna Vyas, Director

Keynote Speakers:
Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Jonas, Professor for "system design" at the School of Art and Design, University of Kassel, Germany
Ms. Marcela Quijano, Curator, HfG-Archiv Ulm, Germany
Prof Sudhakar Nadkarni, Dean, Business Design, Welingkar Institute of Management Development and Research, Mumbai
Prof H Kumar Vyas, Distinguished Professor, CEPT University, Ahmedabad

Conference Chair:
Prof M P Ranjan, NID, Ahmedabad
Co-Chair:
Prof Suchitra Sheth, CEPT University, Ahmedabad

Registration:
Registration fees are payable by Cash or Demand Draft drawn in favour of “National Institute of Design” payable at Bangalore.
Payment with Registration Form duly filled to be delivered to NID R & D Campus, Bangalore or at the Goethe- Institut/Max Mueller Bhavan, Bangalore.

Last date for registration without late fees: February 26, 2010
Late fee payable after closing date: additional 50 % of registration fees above.
(Limited participation so please register early)

Address for communication and registration:

1st contact: National Institute of Design, Bangalore

Shashikala Satyamoorthy,
Conference Coordinator
National Institute of Design, R & D Campus,
#12 HMT Link Road, Off Tumkur Road
Bangalore 560 022
Tel: +91-080-23478939 (D) / 23373006
Fax: +91 80 23373086
conference email: hfgulm2010@nid.edu
www.nid.edu

2nd contact: Goethe-Institut/Max Mueller Bhavan, Bangalore

Maureen Gonsalves
Programme Coordinator
Goethe-Institut/Max Mueller Bhavan
716 CMH Road, Indiranagar 1st Stage
Bangalore 560 038
Ph: +91 80 2520 5305/06/07/08-203
Fax: +91 80 2520 5309
arts@bangalore.goethe.org
www.goethe.de/bangalore


see detailed programme and download Registration Form from this link here below:
Download Detailed Conference Programme and Registration Form in pdf 400kb

Prof M P Ranjan