The Department of Design Theory and History fulfils two major roles; to further research in the field of material culture studies, and to sharpen the understanding of design as a critical practice. As a research based department it promotes a lively doctoral research culture and offers Masters students a range of critical perspectives on the objects, relations and processes of design and material culture.
From the visual culture of everyday ephemera to the material culture of the domestic, through the taste-making mechanisms of corporations and human relations, ‘things’ are explored in an interdisciplinary context that emphasises form and aesthetics as just one of many dimensions of design.
The department forms part of the Institute of Design at the University of Applied Arts Vienna and offers the only academic, research-driven curriculum in the field of design history/theory and material culture in Austria. Its collaboration with international universities, design schools, museums, and practising designers and creatives, lends the department a unique profile.
The department is co-editorial base, with the Department of Anthropology, University College London, for the interdisciplinary journal Home Cultures: Architecture, Design and Domestic Space
(Berg: Oxford).
Univ. Prof. Alison J. Clarke PhD, MA ( RCA )
Chair, Department Design Theory and History
Research Director Victor. J. Papanek Foundation
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BA (Hons) Design History (Manchester Met. Univ)
MA (RCA) History of Design with Distinction (Royal College of Art, London)
PhD. (Lond.) Social Anthropology (University College London)
Co-Managing Editor of Home Cultures: Journal of Design, Architecture and Domestic Space (Oxford: Berg)
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Björn Franke, MA (RCA)
Lecturer
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MA (RCA) Design Products (Royal College of Art, London)
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Sen. Sc. Bryleigh Morsink
Research Assistant
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MFA (University of Auckland, New Zealand)
BDes (Hons) (Unitec Institute of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand)
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Dr. Elana Shapira
Lecturer
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MA Art History (Hebrew University, Jerusalem)
PhD. History of Art (University of Applied Arts Vienna)
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Elfe Fritz
Administration & Management
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