philosophy, design and aesthetics

Research Seminar on Philosophy, Design and Aesthetics

April 10th, 11th and 12th 2025
Warsaw, Poland

The University of Warsaw’s Department of Aesthetics is pleased to announce the call for papers for the upcoming research seminar dedicated to the critical examination of the aesthetic discourse surrounding design.
The seminar will take place in Warsaw, Poland, on April 10th, 11th and 12th 2025.
The research seminar is organized in partnership with the University of Social Sciences and Humanities (SWPS).

Keynote Speakers

• Mads Nygaard Folkmann (University of Southern Denmark)
• Michalle Gal (Shenkar College)
• Ewa Klekot (SWPS University)

Call for Abstracts - Closed

Recent developments in aesthetic theory indicate a renewed philosophical interest in the topic of design. However, this interest takes two parallel routes that occasionally diverge: the exploration of design’s influence on contemporary taste and the challenges it poses to sustainability. On the one hand, scholars, oscillating between formalist and functionalist accounts of aesthetic theory (e.g., Forsey, 2013; Parsons, 2016; Gal, 2022), are outlining the features of the particular impact that design has exerted on the state of current taste. On the other hand, in light of design theory's acknowledgment that this practice has contributed to the creation of an unsustainable world (Fry, 2009; Escobar, 2018; Staszowski and Tassinari, 2021), scholars are attempting to define new aesthetic categories and sensibilities that can oppose this untenable progress (Alexander, 2017; Saito, 2023; Di Stefano, 2024). The call for papers adopts a critical stance toward existing aesthetic theories (functionalists and formalists alike), which appear to disregard the widespread skepticism towards considering design mainly as an aesthetic practice adopted by emerging trends in design research.

According to Greg Bamford (1991), the term ‘design’ can be understood in two distinct ways: firstly, as a general type of "cognitive activity"; and secondly, as a "social or institutional practice, or profession." ‘Design,’ in the aesthetic discourse, is predominantly associated with the latter, thus referring to professional aesthetic practice. This definition establishes a connection between design and the well-established subject of aesthetic research, specifically art; consequently, it provides a rationale for applying aesthetic theories to the evaluation of design products, which are influenced by widely acknowledged theories of artistic beauty. However, the aesthetic aspect of the practice often intersects in reality with the objectives of marketing activities, prompting design theorists to express scepticism about the predominant association of design with an aesthetic exercise as well as the perceived worth of its products in terms of aesthetic stimulation.

Another example of the limit of an art-centric definition of ‘design’ is the absence of 'technology' from theories of aesthetic appreciation of design objects, despite its centrality in the construction of an ontology of design. Design objects are characterized as a set of technologically mass-manufactured objects, contrasting with more traditional artworks like paintings and sculptures that rely more on manual labor. This characterization establishes a connection between design and other artistic disciplines, such as photography and cinema, and elicits hypotheses regarding their impact on societal sensibility (Vitta 2012, Folkmann 2016), similar to Walter Benjamin's analysis of the inception of cinema in the XX century. Today we could extend the scope of this conversation by exploring the relationship between even newer technologies, including Artificial Intelligence (AI), and the practice of design. Still, the fact remains that the technological aspect of designs’ production in general is frequently overlooked in the delineation of the modes of their aesthetic appreciation. Similarly, social and ethical values delegated to technological artifacts within their design (Verbeek 2005) elude aesthetic theory.

Given these premises, the workshop-conference will examine the limitations and justifications for the definitions of 'design' that function in the aesthetic discourse. Our aim is to question the validity of the limitations imposed by an art-centric discourse and explore, for example, the feasibility of conceptualizing design as an expanded form of daily practice (e.g., “diffuse design”, Manzini, 2015), transcending its current professional connotation. By doing so, we aim to not only challenge the boundaries of the aesthetic discourse on design but also to investigate what may lie beyond these boundaries.

In questioning the existing limitations of philosophical discourse on the aesthetics of design, the research seminar seeks to address the following questions:

• What justifies the analysis of design within the paradigms centered around art? Are there any alternative frameworks that are more appropriate for the analysis of design?
• How can design be perceived as an integral part of daily life, extending beyond its conventional categorization?
• Can we establish the parameters of design’s axiology by focusing on actions rather than objects?
• What new philosophical concepts could counteract design’s unsustainable world-making?
• In aesthetic appreciation, how should the technological aspect of design production be accounted for?
• How do the technological and material components of design objects influence their aesthetic appreciation and/or their broader axiological significance?

Potential topics include but are not limited to:

• The intersection of art, philosophy, and design
• Theories of value of design
• Everyday aesthetics and design
• Aesthetic experiences in use
• The user as a co-designer
• Environmental sustainability and the philosophy of design
• Aesthetic/axiological dimensions of technology and innovation
• Aesthetics and philosophy in contemporary design research

Affiliated and independent scholars are welcome to submit contributions that develop the ideas presented in the call for abstracts, or are critical and polemical with them.

Format

This research seminar is in person. The official language of the conference is English. Selected abstracts should be developed into presentations of no more than 30 minutes. (Presentation: 30 mins., followed by 15 mins. of Q&A). Because this is a workshop-style conference, participants are required to attend all three days. The seminar agenda will be scheduled in advance.

Submissions of Applications

Abstracts not exceeding 300 words should be sent as a separate document (.doc, .docx, .pdf) to designaesthetics@proton.me before October 30, 2024 December 15, 2024. Submissions should be prepared for anonymous review. Please send the author's name, affiliation (if applicable), short bio, and contact information in a separate file.
Notification of acceptance will be sent by January 20, 2025.

Registration

The registration fees total €116 (equivalent to 500 PLN) and include coffee breaks and lunches. These fees are applicable after the acceptance of the paper submission and should be settled no later than the 20th of February, 2025. This deadline ensures timely processing of registrations and facilitates the smooth organization of the conference. We kindly remind all participants to adhere to this payment schedule to secure their attendance and contribute to the success of the event. Should you have any inquiries regarding registration or payment procedures, please do not hesitate to contact us.

For general inquiries about the conference, please contact designaesthetics@proton.me
We look forward to your participation.

Important Dates

• Abstract Submission Deadline: October 30, 2024 December 15, 2024 Closed
• Notification of Acceptance: November 20, 2024 January 20, 2025 Closed
• Registration Deadline: January 20, 2025 February 20, 2025 Closed
• Conference Dates: April 10-11-12, 2025

Keynote Speakers

• Prof. Mads Nygaard Folkmann (University of Southern Denmark)
• Prof. Michalle Gal (Shenkar College)
• Prof. Ewa Klekot (SWPS University)

Scientific Board

• Dr Natalia Juchniewicz (Assistant Professor in the Department of Social Philosophy, UW; Philosophy of Technology and Communication Lab)
• Dr Monika Rosińska (Head of Design Theory and Research Department, Faculty of Design, SWPS University)
• Dr hab. Mateusz Salwa (Head of the Department of Aesthetics, UW)

Conference Organisers

• Monika Favara-Kurkowski (PhD candidate UW)
• Marta Maliszewska (PhD candidate UW)

Organizing institutions

• The University of Warsaw
• The University of Social Sciences and Humanities (SWPS)

Program

Thursday, April 10th

Ul. Dobra 55, First Floor, room 1.138 📍

10:00	Welcome introduction
10:15	Michalle Gal (Keynote) - Shankar University Design, Transcendence, Everydayness, and Functionalism + This essay proposes a visualist definition of design in opposition to the prevalent intentionalist functionalism. It exposes the transcendent dimension of functionalism, pointing to the discrepancy between its aspiration to address everydayness and its premise of stable functions and linear connections between a designer's intention, the design object, and its proper use. Refuting this linearity, I argue that the visual affordances of objects — their perceptible features that prompt various interactions — demonstrate how design objects elicit diverse, spontaneous engagements that exceed predetermined functions. From a visualist perspective, the expressive and emergent properties of design objects, including the non-functional visual properties of function, play a central role in shaping human interactions. By dismantling the ontological and epistemological illusion of functional stability, the essay advocates for a design philosophy that foregrounds the fluidity of functions, the richness and disorder of everyday encounters, and the constructivist role of perception in constituting meaning and use.
11:00	Krzystof Pijarski (Responder) - SWPS University
11:30	Discussion
12:00	Coffee Break
12:15	Enrico Terrone and Nick Young - University of Genoa Beauty in Use + This paper examines the role of user experience in design aesthetics, arguing that existing philosophical accounts inadequately capture the aesthetic value derived from interacting with designed objects. We first consider two theories: Parsons and Carlson's Functional Beauty and Forsey's Kant-inspired account. Functional Beauty proposes that objects possess aesthetic merit when they appear fit for their function, relying primarily on perceptual cues. We argue this perception-based approach is insufficient, as it overlooks designs where aesthetic value emerges through use rather than appearance. A keyboard may look efficient yet provide a poor typing experience, indicating that aesthetic appreciation cannot rely solely on visual perception. While Forsey's account incorporates function into aesthetic judgement by assessing how well an object fulfils its intended purpose, it primarily treats use as a means of assessing functional perfection. This approach does not fully account for the aesthetic experiences arising from the act of using an object. In the second half of the paper, we put forward an account of the aesthetics of user experience. In some respects, our account is similar to Nguyen's recent agentive aesthetics of games. However, we demonstrate that the aesthetics of games and the aesthetics of use differ in at least two ways. First, drawing on Montero's concept of aesthetic effortlessness, we suggest that the aesthetic value in using designed objects lies in the experience of performing inherently difficult tasks with ease due to good design. This differs from Nguyen's account of the agentive aesthetics of games, where aesthetic pleasure arises from challenges that match and push players' skills. Second, we examine how the phenomenology of using designed objects differs from gameplay through its integration of purposiveness and means-ends teleology. Unlike game actions confined within a structured environment, interactions with designed objects connect to broader life contexts. This integration of purpose and meaning distinguishes the aesthetic experience of use from gameplay, as designed objects enable actions that align with our practical goals and values.
12:45	Chiara Brozzo - University of Birmingham On the proper aesthetic appreciation of nature in design + In this paper, I argue for a version of cognitivism, according to which a certain kind of knowledge is necessary for the proper aesthetic appreciation of nature incorporated in certain instances of fashion design. My case-study will be garments designed by Alexander McQueen that incorporate natural elements such as shells or minerals. I will be arguing against a version of anti-cognitivism according to which awareness of appearances is all we need to properly aesthetically appreciate nature. Against this, I show that the proper aesthetic appreciation of some garments designed by Alexander McQueen requires both awareness of appearances and knowledge of the natural kinds of some of their components (e.g., mussel shells). This will also give me the chance to argue against an idea defended by Parsons and Carlson (2008), according to which when design objects are manifestly unfit to perform their function, such as bicycles without a seat, or cars with flat tyres, then they will have a negative aesthetic quality—that is, they will be ugly. Interestingly, Parsons and Carlson concede an exception to this idea, based precisely on the case of fashion design. They say that fashion design items manifestly unfit for their function, such as overly long dresses or especially ostentatious hats, can be found to be beautiful, but this is only possible when we disregard their typical function and exclusively focus on formal properties such as their pretty colours and attractive shapes. I object to their diagnosis of the displeasing quality of design objects that are unfit to perform their function. This, I shall argue, is best understood as some kind of negative emotion, but not a negative aesthetic judgement.
13:15	Discussion
13:45	Lunch Break
14:45	Jethro Harcourt - RMIT University The Best Experience is No Experience: Design and comfort between the aesthetics of branded space and the otherness of place + “Every experience worthy of the name thwarts an expectation.” (Hans-Georg Gadamer, Truth and Method). In 1975, the Holiday Inn introduced the pioneering brand slogan: “The Best Surprise is no Surprise.” This paper explores this promise of omnitopia (Wood 2003) through the aesthetics of comfort and the mediation of branded environments, focusing on the most recent rebranding project of the Comfort Inn motel chain. Drawing on hermeneutic phenomenology and a non-differentiated creative practice methodology, the research investigates how branding frames experience, redirecting attention away from the uncomfortable potential of encounters with otherness and place. The study positions the brand as a complex, new-media object (Lury 2004) and the motel as a peripatetic technology (Wood 2005)—a mediating device that smooths over the awkward, uncomfortable aspects of potentially transformative experiences. Examined from the local perspective of a venue in the Latrobe Valley (Gunai-Kurnai Country, Gippsland, Australia), the Comfort Inn case study offers insight into how aestheticisation and anaesthetisation (Welsch 1997) replace encounters with otherness with the trivial aesthetics (Ngai 2012) of designed experiences. This research attempts to capture the complexity of comfort, revealing its intimate connection to discomfort (Lachs 2019). Branded spaces promise smooth experiences that meet pre-reflective expectations yet foreclose the potential for meaningful engagement with difference. Psychoanalytic insights uncover a repressive function within branded environments, where the discomfort of excluded experiences returns in uncanny ways. For instance, the motel’s brand harbours a furtive function, enabling activities it ostensibly denies by rendering them invisible. Situated within the local discourse on sex work and its recent decriminalisation, the case study highlights the contested nature of comfort and the social and appropriated dimensions of branded space. By exploring the brand beyond the immediate formal and functional concerns foregrounded by branded space, this research examines the concealing dimension of design aesthetics—how branding suppresses the possibility for meaningful engagement through non-reflective experience. Advocating for a creative practice approach, the paper explores how reflective methodologies (Lorenc 2021, Folkmann 2023) can engage with the hidden dimensions of design, exploring how branding shapes, conceals, and mediates experience.
15:15	Filip Nicholas Frontczak - University of Warsaw Killing with Kindness: How “User-Friendly” Design can Alter and Harm Human-Technology-World Relations + In this presentation I aim to explore overly “user-friendly” design as one of the possible causes for the deterioration of the direct relation (through understanding and usage competency) of humans with technological artefacts despite the exponential growth in quantity, sophistication, availability, and accessibility of the latter. I aim to do so by analysing a series of examples related to software and computing device (such as computers and smartphones) design, as well as the ensuing usage modalities and their consequences. My starting framework will be grounded in (post)phenomenology including the theories of Martin Heidegger, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Don Ihde, and Peter-Paul Verbeek. My main claim is that a series of obfuscating mechanisms and seemingly life facilitating design choices causes the users of modern technologies to become alienated and incompetent in their usage due to a lack of understanding and learned – or rather induced – helplessness. This in turn deprives them of agency and enforces a growing dependency on an ever-expanding predatory network of “facilitators” and “providers” only worsening the problem. Some of the mechanisms I intend to explore are: Black boxing: The double-edged sword of obfuscation “Batteries not included”: The problem of ready-made solutions Troubleshooting: A lost art when technology works too well “Powerful” vs “easy”: The trade-off of quick accessibility User guidance: When opinionated design becomes “hostile” Consume vs repair: Why fix/improve something when you can replace it Additionally, I wish to propose and consider potential workable alternative design paradigms as a response to the issues of “user-friendly” design such as user- considerate, user-empowering, and user-challenging. Furthermore, if my proposed analysis is accurate, it poses an interesting functional design problem where rather unintuitively a harder to use/access technology might engender a more fruitful relation with it.
15:45	Discussion
16:15	Malwina Tkacz - Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University Design Beyond Aesthetics: Axiology, Technology, and Sustainability + Recent philosophical inquiries into design have critically questioned its traditional categorization within aesthetic theory, especially concerning its role in contemporary culture and its sustainability implications. This paper examines the limitations of conventional art-centric definitions of design and advocates for a broader, more integrated approach that extends design beyond mere aesthetic practice. Drawing on the work of contemporary scholars in design theory, this study seeks to disentangle the prevailing aesthetic frameworks—both formalist and functionalist—that fail to account for the technological and ethical dimensions of design. The paper argues that design, as both a cognitive activity and a social practice, requires new philosophical paradigms that bridge the gap between its aesthetic, technological, and ethical aspects. By exploring concepts such as “diffuse design” and the relationship between design and everyday practices, the paper demonstrates how design can be understood not only as a profession but as a ubiquitous force shaping daily life and influencing societal values. It also critically engages with the sustainability challenges posed by design, proposing that the philosophy of design must evolve to counteract its role in unsustainable world-making. Ultimately, this paper calls for a reevaluation of the parameters of aesthetic appreciation in design, emphasizing the need for an expanded axiological discourse that includes the material, technological, and ethical facets of design objects and practices.
16:45	Amirreza Khadembashi - Sharif University of Technology The Good, The Bad, and The Beautiful: Analyzing the Interaction of Ethics and Aesthetics in Design Objects Through Affordance + This paper aims to investigate the influence of ethical considerations on the aesthetic appreciation of design objects. While ethics and aesthetics are two central dimensions against which design objects are assessed, they are often addressed in separation. Interaction among these dimensions has not been thoroughly examined, with only a few notable exceptions. Andrea Sauchelli, in “Functional Beauty, Architecture, and Morality: A Beautiful Konzentrationslager?”, suggests that ethical concerns may affect aesthetic judgment, especially those related to the functional beauty of buildings. However, he believes this relationship is unsystematic and subject to external factors such as social norms. In another work, "Design and Value: The Ethical Nature of Beautiful Design," by Panos Paris, the interrelation of ethics and aesthetics is recognized, and his account of functional beauty justifies this claim. Although these works effectively highlight the link between ethics and aesthetics, they lack a theoretical framework addressing the function of artifacts, leaving the relationship insufficiently examined. This paper aims to fill this gap by applying Michael Klenk’s Affordance Account of Value Embedding, which provides a structured approach to analyzing both functional beauty and the ethical dimensions of function. By applying this framework, the paper advances our understanding of how ethical affordances embedded in design objects contribute to their aesthetic appreciation. Furthermore, this framework explains the role of external factors, such as social norms and cultural contexts, in shaping the interaction between ethics and aesthetics. This topic is particularly relevant to Design for Values, especially in the context of sustainability. Integrating ethical and aesthetic dimensions is essential for creating design objects that meet both functional and aesthetic criteria while promoting environmental responsibility and social equity. Exploring this intersection fosters more holistic and impactful approaches to sustainable design.
17:15	Discussion
17:45	Closing Cocktail

Friday, April 11th

Ul. Dobra 55, First Floor, room 1.138 📍

10:00	Mads Nygaard Folkmann (Keynote) - University of Southern Denmark Who’s Afraid of Design Aesthetics? + In this paper, I argue for the importance of aesthetics in understanding the impact of design for framing human experience. A central part of my argument is that an investigation of design needs to be embedded in phenomenological reflection related to our experiential engagement with the world, and that a framework combining philosophical aesthetics and cultural studies in design is required to analyze design’s multifaceted influence. On the basis of a nuanced framework of sensual, conceptual, and contextual aesthetic dimensions of design, I discuss in turn: 1) the role of appearance, which in the case of design is multi-sensorial, dynamic, and relates to expandable networks; 2) the nature of aesthetic experience related to design, which is related to function but also exceeds it; and, last, 3) the operation of aesthetic categories in setting the scene for what aesthetic experiences are in relation to design.
10:45	Josh Plough (Responder) - Fundacja Ziemniaki
11:15	Discussion
11:45	Coffee Break
12:00	Felicia Nilsson - The Oslo School of Architecture and Design (AHO) Reading Adorno didn’t help - A study of designers’ foundational assumptions on aesthetics in contemporary digital practice + How come designers do not feel ownership of the discourse of aesthetics? Aesthetics is a central part of the practice of designing and a myriad of aesthetic decisions are made in all designs. Yet as the design discipline and its practices are rapidly changing, the implications of these decisions are increasingly difficult to grasp. These new conditions change not just the ever evolving means and materials of design, such as digital and intelligent technologies, but the very understanding of designing and the design process. The digital forces design to reconsider aesthetics. The digital and lately AI, force us to examine the role of aesthetics also in practice - as we design and not only after the act. As such we need a critical discourse on how designers may make aesthetic choices and decide on aesthetic expressions. This article takes its starting point in an interview series with design practitioners discussing aesthetics. It investigates how it becomes apparent that the aesthetic theories designers have access to are unhelpful for their contemporary practice of designing. From an analysis that crosses all these interviews with digital designers, I am able to distill some foundational assumptions about aesthetics in practice, as well as some reflections on how the theories of aesthetics are inadequate to meet with the designer’s needs. For example; aesthetics is experienced as a high level theoretical concept, belonging to philosophers, as well as strong lingering ideas of relating aesthetics to favor beauty, order and appearance. This study considers how existing theories of aesthetics for design may be inadequate to meet with the designer’s needs. In sum, it points to designs’ ability and privilege in shaping and creating aesthetic experiences as a power that needs to be treated with more care and critical insights.
12:30	Liisi Keedus - Tallinn University Designing Degrowth: An Exploration in Political Aesthetics + In the context of escalating ecological crises and the Anthropocene's relentless pressures, the philosophical foundations necessary to envision a postgrowth world remain conspicuously underdeveloped. While degrowth economics and social science has gained traction as a critique of unsustainable consumerism, degrowth philosophy in the more gegeneral sense –but particularly its political and aesthetic dimensions - remains fragmented and insufficiently theorized. The proposed paper will address this gap by 1) mapping the emerging field of postgrowth philosophy in the form of its central questions; 2) underlining the relevance of virtually missing degrowth political aesthetics, 3) with a focus on the reconceptualization of design as a central element. Political philosophy in degrowth discourse is scarce, often limited to postcolonial and feminist perspectives, while a broader systematic approach to political alternatives remains elusive. Similarly, degrowth aesthetics - an urgent necessity for reimagining human-nature relations and the cultural imaginaries that underpin growth – has been almost missing in recently flourishing interdisciplinary degrowth studies. Without a coherent theory of how aesthetic and design practices can contribute to a sufficiency-based, eudaimonic vision of life, the transition beyond the "hedonic treadmill" of consumerism risks stagnation. Design, in particular, offers a fertile yet underexplored avenue for constructing a degrowth aesthetic. As both a social and material practice, design shapes our interactions with the environment and mediates our cultural values. My talk will examine how reconceptualizing design through postgrowth philosophy can challenge anthropocentric paradigms and foster ecological and political transformation in novel and complementary ways in collaboration with social, environmental and political critiques. From "make do with now" architecture to circular economy visualizations, these practices can articulate alternatives to growth-centric aesthetics. Additionally, engaging with environmental art (e.g., Eliasson’s Ice Watch) and East Asian design philosophies provides pathways for embedding interconnectedness and sustainability into everyday life. By focusing on the intersections of political philosophy, aesthetics, and design, the proposed paper argues for a holistic approach to degrowth that positions design as an agent of political, cultural and philosophical change, reshaping the material world by targeting the moral and aesthetic imagination underpinning it.
13:00	Discussion
13:30	Lunch Break
14:30	Carsten Friberg - University of Southern Denmark/Horizon Europe At the intersection of design, aesthetics, and philosophy + I wish to ask what we can find at this intersection. I approach this from philosophy, i.e. as a question of knowledge, specifically knowledge of social interaction: of how to make sense of our social and physical environments. I suggest we find a fundamental role for design in forming social interactions because it forms our communal perception and shared feelings. To justify this, two clarifications must be made: i) aesthetics is considered an investigation of the cognitive aspects of sensorial form, i.e. forms of sense-making different from conceptual knowledge (with Joseph Beuys: there would be no need for the work of art if we could explain everything in propositional form); ii) design is considered as an interpretative intervention in our environment influencing and forming our sensorial and perceptual relation to it. Design, from objects to urban plans, in communication from graphic design to organisational intentions, and as service and strategic design, affects us and form our social relations and interactions. One approach is of an aesthetic analysis that can characterize structural and affective forms of design; another, the one I take, is a philosophical critique to demonstrate the cognitive implications of these sensorial and bodily forms and their role in educating us for social practices by performing along with embedded structures of meaningful interaction. The intersection of design, aesthetics, and philosophy is about how design enables social relations by making us share perceptions and feelings. It places design as a major agent in education and communication by being a component in sense-making, i.e. in constituting social interaction by means of sensorial forms essential for sensorial cognition. A philosophical approach is a contribution to understanding the role and influence of the design for how we relate to our social and physical environment.
15:00	Neli Dobreva - Sorbonne’s School of Arts Designed Objects and Care Aesthetics: are they environmentally sustainable? + I am interested in the concept of care as an aesthetic function of objects. But how one could approach concepts such as care, aesthetics and object together? Care supposes an ethical issue, aesthetics—a sensitive knowledge, and the object concerns the materiality of the experience. However, should we consider a possible care aesthetics (Saito, 2023) linked to the notion of function (Forsey, 2013) together with a designed object? Could a designed object be functional and in the same time having the faculties of a care aesthetics excluding the artful, the craft and the nature? Say it another way, is it possible to merge the notion of function in design within the notion of care in aesthetics having in mind that functional objects are not caring about the transcendence of art? In a more radical way, one should ask: and what about digital objects (Hui, 2016)? These are objects coming out from technology with which we are interacting in our everyday activities but still we owe them to rethink about their status. Yet we need to explore these hypotheses within the framework of caring, function and inter-action of designed objects.
15:30	Discussion
16:00	Bálint Veres - Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design Aesthetic labor and IKEA + Upon its unparalleled and undisrupted market success within ever-growing international consumer societies, by today IKEA has become a global-scale player in human self-definition through both actual and imaginary (advertised) living environments filled with the branded goods it offers, furthermore by those visions of attractive lifestyles that flood the perception of its audience. As a manifestation of desire-driven aesthetic capitalism and the attached design culture, IKEA, however, has attained its eminent present status not only through the goods themselves and the associated narratives but, improbably perhaps, also through the multiple labors it assumes, demands, and elicits, not only on the production side but also on the consumption side. Labor is definitely a plural noun in the IKEA dictionary because it indicates a multilayered bundle of different activities, and permeates everyone affected through and through, from the start of the production chain through running the whole marketing machinery to the end use of the goods (including the notorious IKEA-effect). At the same time, labor exerts a unifying force that bears a substantial correlation with aesthetics despite the latter being conceived traditionally as opposed to the world of labor, and as something that belongs to the realm of free play instead. Although not every work activity associated with IKEA can be accounted for what Gernot Böhme calls 'aesthetic labor', a remarkably high proportion of the latter defines the overall IKEA universe, from the practice of official designers through that of visual merchandisers to the end users. Aesthetic labor is meant in an intentionally underdefined way, and as such it seems to be in pair with what Ezio Manzini registers as 'diffuse design'. This talk, based on my recent, not-yet-published IKEA research, makes an effort to gain further insights into that diffuse realm where design, labor, and aesthetics meet.
16:30	Luis Guerra Miranda - Institute of Philosophy CSIC Spanish Council of Scientific Research Reparatory Design Practices and their Aesthetic-Pedagogic Agency + The ecological crisis we are all suffering on a global scale is almost indescribable. It affects every aspect of our survival and has exposed us to the fragility and fracturability of our world. Through their practices, artists and designers worldwide confront diverse forms of harm, they seek solutions, create reparations that respond to and challenge disciplinary and institutional responses, and enable new learning, adapting, thinking, and caring processes. I propose to reflect on and from a unique perspective that draws attention to their related methodologies specifically highlighting their aesthetic-pedagogical agency in the public sphere. The act of reparation seeks restitution that does not imply forgetting the origins of the harm caused. Reparation implies and understands that the transformation produced by the damage has created a different reality to which it must adapt. To repair is to heal, and healing is a process of intense care, a period of accompaniment, recovery, and re-foundation. Repair is a pedagogical process of reweaving and interweaving, which shapes new knowledge in a community, emerging from the damage that occurred. My reparatory approach intends to consider contemporary design practices from an inclusive and regenerative perspective as critical cognitive, reflexive, and experimental aesthetic and pedagogical forms. A reparatory approach focusses on the networks and relationships built between social communities, reparatory design practices. I will focus on design initiatives that are already adopting a reparatory perspective, responding to material and immaterial social needs, extending reparations towards the boundaries of social relations, emotional fields, communicative performativities, poetics of attention, and ecologies of collective affect. In doing so, they contribute to a global paradigm shift in the field of artistic and design practices and artistic-design thinking and, specifically, in the field of aesthetics.
17:00	Discussion
17:30	End of the session

Saturday, April 12th

Ul. Chodakowska 19/31 📍

10:00	Ewa Klekot (Keynote) - SWPS University Title TBC + Abstract TBC
10:45	Martyna Groth (Responder) - SWPS University
11:15	Discussion
11:45	Cofee Break
12:00	Ceramics workshop Led by Jagoda Harton, ceramics studio	Screen Printing Workshop Led by Estera Mrówka, screen printing studioAuthor
13:30	Lunch Break

Contact

For general inquiries about the conference, please contact designaesthetics@proton.me

Venues

The venue for our conference spans across various academic locations in Warsaw, offering participants a unique opportunity to experience different facets of this vibrant city.

Once in Warsaw, getting around is quite convenient. For public transport, besides Google, there is a useful app called "Jakdojade", which provides the best connections from point to point. It can also be accessed via a web browser: https://jakdojade.pl/warszawa. Tickets can be purchased directly on board any public transport vehicle using a bank card, and a standard ticket lasts 90 minutes.

We are excited for those who haven't visited Warsaw before, as they will have the chance to explore its rich cultural heritage. To discover more about the cultural attractions awaiting them, participants can visit the following website for detailed information and recommendations: https://warsawtour.pl/en/main-page/

Venue for the first two days

Venue for the third day