Bauhaus Futures

This year, IIT Institute of Design is celebrating the 80th anniversary of its founding as the New Bauhaus. This panel brings together design scholars, practicing designers, artists and technologists in order to reflect on the significance of Chicago's design history as well as its relationship to future directions of the design field. What kind of experimentation would the New Bauhaus be doing if they were working today? Which of their values are still relevant to design practice and scholarship and which have been discarded? In what ways is the city of Chicago a laboratory for emergent design practices? What are the changing responsibilities of designers today and in the future?

This panel includes experts from Chicago universities as well as practitioners working in industry and independent practice. The event will be the first in a series of events that consider the role of the New Bauhaus in Chicago as part of these two anniversaries in order to examine the changing aesthetics and politics at the intersection of art, design, technology, and humanity.

Panelists

Marshall Brown, Associate Professor at the Illinois Institute of Technology College of Architecture
Marshall Brown is a licensed architect and urban designer. Brown is a Graham Foundation grantee and represented the United States at the 2016 Venice Architecture Biennale. He has also exhibited at the Arts Club of Chicago, the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, and Western Exhibitions. In 2016 he appeared in the PBS documentary “Ten Towns that Changed America.” Brown was a 2010 MacDowell Fellow, and also the first Saarinen Architecture Fellow at the Cranbrook Academy of Art. He received his Masters degrees in Architecture and Urban Design from Harvard University where he won the Druker Fellowship for urban design.

Kathleen Brandenburg, Founder and Chief Design Strategy Officer, IA Collaborative
A pioneer of design thinking, Kathleen provides strategic leadership to IA Collaborative’s global clients, resolving complex business challenges and uncovering unexpected opportunities for innovation for Samsung, GE, Sonos, Nike, Johnson & Johnson, United and more. An internationally recognized design leader, Kathleen is a frequent speaker on the national and global stage, and has been named as one of the “Top 50 Most Influential Designers in America” by Fast Company. Kathleen holds a master’s degree in Design Strategy from the Institute of Design, IIT, where she serves on its Board of Directors.

Laura Forlano, Assistant Professor of Design at the Institute of Design
Laura Forlano, a Fulbright award-winning and National Science Foundation funded scholar, is a social scientist and design researcher. In addition to her role at the Institute of Design, she is also Affiliated Faculty in the College of Architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology, and Director of the Critical Futures Lab. Her research is focused on the aesthetics and politics at the intersection between design and emerging technologies, material practices and the future of cities. She is co-editor with Marcus Foth, Christine Satchell and Martin Gibbs of From Social Butterfly to Engaged Citizen (MIT Press 2011). She received her Ph.D. in communications from Columbia University.

Jeff Mau, Experience Strategy with DigitasLBi
Jeff leads clients through digital transformation by identifying new strategies for customer engagement and business growth. Jeff has advised leading companies around the world in the mobile, financial, entertainment and telecommunications industries. Clients include: Altria, Whirlpool, MillerCoors, Emerson, Lexmark, Samsung, Disney, Merrill Lynch, Target, John Deere, AT&T, Vodafone and Sprint. He holds a Master of Design Methods degree from the IIT Institute of Design and a BFA in Photography and Design from Kansas City Art Institute. Also active in educating the next generation, Jeff teaches courses in design and innovation at IIT Institute of Design in Chicago and CEDIM in Mexico City.

Tim Parsons, Associate Professor and Chair of the Designed Objects Programs at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and co-founder of the design studio Parsons & Charlesworth
Working across a variety of media, Parsons & Charlesworth create objects, exhibits, texts and images that encourage reflection upon the current and future state of our designed culture. Considering objects as agents of change, the studio prototypes new ways of living, often using narrative and speculation to propose new scenarios and comment on contemporary issues. Tim studied Industrial design before graduating from the Masters program in Design Products at London’s Royal College of Art in 2000. His book Thinking:Objects: Contemporary Approaches to Product Design was published in 2009 by AVA Academia.

Jason White, Co-Founder and Executive Creative Director of Leviathan
With expertise in motion design, Jason guides his team through the production of high-profile projects for global brands, agencies, and entertainers. Under his creative lead, Leviathan has worked with major brands including BMW, Nike, Samsung, and The North Face; as well as recording artists Drake, Skrillex, and Amon Tobin. Jason is also a regular guest speaker at industry conferences around the world including FITC, Collider, HPX Digital, SEGD, and Pause Fest. His works have been featured in international media outlets including The Creators Project, Communication Arts, Motionographer, Stash, and Wired.

DJSupesBase will provide music during the cocktail reception.