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Provocative Places: Millbank Prison, London
Provocative Places: Millbank Prison, London

Welcome to the next in our Provocative Places and Objects series, in which our Ambassadors look at places and spaces that challenge and confront us as design historians. This month, Alexandra Banister looks at Millbank Prison, the former national penitentiary and deportation holding facility, and the architecture of imprisonment and surveillance.

24 August 2022 -

Provocative Objects / Spaces
Provocative Places: Johannesburg, South Africa
Provocative Places: Johannesburg, South Africa

Welcome to the next in our Provocative Places and Objects series, in which our Ambassadors look at places and spaces that challenge and confront us as design historians. This month, Alexandra Banister discusses the city of Johannesburg in South Africa and issues of segregation and urban planning.

6 July 2022 -

Provocative Objects / Spaces
Report: DHS Conference Bursary by Joana Baptista Costa and Mariana Leão - Open Portuguese Graphic Design Archive: statements as interruptions of institutionalised unit
Report: DHS Conference Bursary by Joana Baptista Costa and Mariana Leão - Open Portuguese Graphic Design Archive: statements as interruptions of institutionalised unit

In this blog report the awardees of the DHS Conference Bursary, Joana Baptista Costa and Mariana Leão talk about the Open Portuguese Graphic Design Archive, an initiative they lead in order to "problematise the processes of the historiography of graphic design and question the authorities and the powers that define objects, themes and authors."

30 June 2022 -

Reports
Provocative Objects: Bacchantes Vase by René Lalique
Provocative Objects: Bacchantes Vase by René Lalique

Welcome to the next edition of our Provocative Places and Objects blog series, in which our Ambassadors look more at places and spaces that challenge and confront us as design historians. This month, Wiktoria Kijowska looks at the Bacchantes Vase by René Lalique in the context of fakes and copies.

22 June 2022 -

Provocative Objects / Spaces
Report: DHS Conference Bursary by Leanne Tonkin - Postconservation model in contemporary textile and fashion conservation
Report: DHS Conference Bursary by Leanne Tonkin - Postconservation model in contemporary textile and fashion conservation

Leanne Tolkin is a PhD researcher and a textile and fashion conservator. In this report Leanne talks about the ‘postconservation’ model that extends the legacy and appreciation of fashion artefacts beyond a representational conservation approach. After all, if a fashion item is designed to degrade, what are the archival implications in conserving, documenting processes and ‘performance’ of the applied characteristics of such artefacts?

14 June 2022 -

Reports
Provocative Places: the Colosseum, Rome
Provocative Places: the Colosseum, Rome

Welcome to the next edition of our Provocative Places and Objects blog series, in which our Ambassadors look more at places and spaces that challenge and confront us as design historians. This month, Alexandra Banister looks at the Colosseum in Rome, and discusses issues surrounding much-visited architectural sites of historical importance which were designed for inhumane purposes.

8 June 2022 -

Provocative Objects / Spaces
Report: Student Research Access Award by Sophia Tai

In this report, Sophia Tai takes us through her journey into the archives in the search of the history and character of the Tamil script, the official language in Sri Lanka, Singapore and Malaysia. Tai's research journey was supported by a DHS Student Research Access Award.

8 June 2022 -

Reports
Hidden Histories: Gender in Design interview: Barbara Jaffee
Hidden Histories: Gender in Design interview: Barbara Jaffee

Our final Hidden Histories: Gender in Design seminar examines pedagogic histories and practices. Ahead of the event, our Ambassador Alexandra Banister asked Barbara Jaffee, Associate Professor Emerita of Modern Art and Design History at Northern Illinois University, more about her research into the work of the art historian Helen Gardner.

26 May 2022 -

Interviews

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