politics of design

A second Dutch Artistic Research Event - DARE - has been organized by the Utrecht Graduate School of Visual Art and Design, in cooperation with Casco on September 9th at the Utrecht Central Museum. Designers, architects and theorists discussed questions as: How can we define the role of a designer? Is design able to contribute to solving important (environmental, social, political) problems in the world? Does a designer have to contend with both artistic and social responsibilities, and how could we define those responsibilities? Fiona Parry from Casco reported on the positions taken. As a follow-up, a discussion between Roemer van Toorn and moderator Annette W. Balkema emerged. The symposium was a satellite program of Utrecht Manifest 2007, the Biennial for Social Design.