In Autumn 2017, the group held three monthly events as ‘Catalytic Converters’ to discuss and generate research ideas, stimulate interest in the group, and to look at opportunities to widen our network and group membership.
These 3 salons/open forums/events, replaced the standard LINES group meetings, as an alternative format.
Mon 16/10 – The Stories we tell about Design
Mike Windle gave a presentation on current themes in his work and research thinking – ‘How not to tell stories’.
The group discussed potential workshop ideas and proposals, and debated the REF exercise and research goals and responsibilities.
Mon 13/11 – The Stories we tell within Design
Guest – PHD Student Silvia Garcia Ojeda presented her work in progress to us –
‘Currently, her research interests lay in the intersections of multiple cultural representations, such as literature, film, and new media, and the links they create with the built environment. At the University of Edinburgh she is working in unfolding literary representations of domestic interiors in what refers to women’s roles, in specific political and societal contexts. The questions at the core of her research relate to the intersection between the political and societal history of Chile in the 20th century as it relates to the interior architecture it produced, and its relation to imagined spaces in literature.’
https://www.eca.ed.ac.uk/profile/silvia-ojeda-garcia
Jonathan Gibbs presented recent outreach projects, working with school children across several institutions
Mon 11/12 – How we Design Stories
Guest – PHD Student Gill Treacy presented her work in progress to relating to lighting and the use of daylight within design and architecture.
https://www.eca.ed.ac.uk/profile/gillian-treacy
Guest – Dr Rachel Joy Harkness from Design and Screen Cultures came along and presented her recent research projects exploring themes around materials and the built environment.
‘Rachel is interested in learning from people about how they experience, perceive, care for, envision and create their shared environments. To this end, she has worked extensively with builder-dwellers in the USA and Scotland, attending to issues of power, art, labour, value and social imagination. Her recent work is concerned with architecture’s materials and social orchestrations, and the idea of thinking-through-making. She’s been considering the vibrant materials that make up the Scottish built environment, and the stories, lives, entanglements and skills that a focus upon them brings to the fore.’
https://www.eca.ed.ac.uk/profile/dr-rachel-joy-harkness
The events were seen as a great success by all who were able to attend. We all agreed how useful it was to analyse the research methods and process of others, and hear about different approaches to work and some potential avenues and opportunities for us.
