I recently had the pleasure to visit the Konstfack in Stockholm as external examiner for their MFA in Jewellery and Metalwork. Led by Professors Ruudt Peters and Karren Pontoppidan (third and fourth from left above) they are seen here wearing pieces by graduating student Sara Borgegård (far left) which are shown in the current degree show. An excellent course with excellent students - and for overseas students there are no tuition fees, which is a refreshing take on the idea of public education.
What is also interesting is that the Konstfack is about to begin a doctoral programme in art and design. We had some discussions about this, and the need to better link up research students in craft disciplines worldwide. The recent conference in Izmir, Turkey of the European Academy of Design (EAD) - which I've blogged on elsewhere - also raised this issue. There were some very good papers presented by doctoral students, a number from craft disciplines. But there are few mechanisms in place to help them network together. There is the phd-design list, but this would appear more effective for networking supervisors than students. So Wolfgang Jonas is starting work on developing an on-line networking system for research students in design, which will be under the EAD umbrella, but open to all. Early in June he is holding a meeting to progress this idea, and is seeking suggestions for what is needed.
If you are a research student in craft - or a supervisor, or have even a passing interest in doctoral studies in craft - please leave a comment on what you would want from an online networking system. How could we learn from other social networking facilities? Is an email list sufficient? What resources would you like to see shared?
All your comments will be forwarded on and contribute to building something that helps create a worldwide research culture for craft.
Sounds like something that fits between a 'crafty' version of MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/ and the Make Blog: http://www.makezine.com/blog/ - MakerSpace?
ReplyDeleteSomething that is more useful than: http://www.phdweblogs.net/ and looks and works more like: http://www.carbonmade.com/
Something like: We Make Craft Not Money: http://www.we-make-money-not-art.com/ bolted onto CGTalk: http://forums.cgsociety.org/ ?
How about starting something around New Craft Future Voices - like automatically making everyone who registers a contributor to this blog? Having a BoingBoing for Craft: http://boingboing.net/ would certainly be a start...