Graduating students present papers based on their theses, alongside presentations by professional design critics and thinkers who help to frame and contextualize their work. This year’s conference is moderated by architecture critic and curator Justin McGuirk who provides translation among ideas between students and a headlining roster of keynote speakers representing interests in curation, literature, theory and design futures. Topics of discussion include the branding of emergent nation South Sudan, design education and identity in the Gulf region, the ethics and aesthetics of body modification, the role of tiny houses and micro-apartments in twenty-first century urban planning and the new complexion of urban American surf culture.
Free and open to the public.  RSVP recommended, but not required.  Please click on the ticket icon above to RSVP.
More information available at http://designresearch.sva.edu/conference2014.
Lingua Franca: The 2014 D-Crit Conference
Friday, May 2, 2014, 12:30,7:30 p.m.
12:30 Registration and refreshments
1:00 Alice Twemlow, Opening Remarks
1:15 Nicholson Baker, “Wrapping Sentences Around Things”
2:00 Justin McGuirk, Opening Remarks
2:15 Emily Stokes-Reese, “Museumizing the National Imagination: Reflections on Citizenship and Time Traveling”
2:45 Anne Quito: “Designing a Country from Scratch: Nation Branding in South Sudan”
3:00 Anna Marie Smith: “Materializing Miniature Living: The Rise of Tiny Houses and Micro-Apartments”
3:15 Q&A: Emily Stokes-Rees, Anne Quito, Anna Marie Smith
3:30 Coffee Break
3:45 Aric Chen: “Building a Visual Culture Museum from Zero, or The World, from Another Point of View”
4:15 Nawar N. Al-Kazemi: “Khaleeji Design: An Imported Aesthetic?”
4:30 Sandra Nuut: “Curating Critically: New Forms of Fashion Exhibition”
4:45 Amanda Vallance: “Thinking Through Chinese High Fashion Design”
5:00 Q&A: Aric Chen, Nawar N. Al-Kazemi, Sandra Nuut, Amanda Vallance
5:15 Coffee Break
5:30 Peter Lunenfeld: “Your Client is the Future”
6:00 Lynda Decker: “Sex Wax on the Subway: Mythology and the Urban Surfer”
6:15 Caterina Francisca: “Designers in White Lab Coats: When Design Meets Scientific Research”
6:30 Q&A: Peter Lunenfeld, Lynda Decker, Caterina Francisca
6:45 Closing Remarks
7:30 Reception