LECTURE RESCHEDULED: it will take place on 28.3.13 (Thursday)

Design, in contrast to art, is a basic element of everyday experience. However, alike contemporary art, it may become a form of social criticism, commenting on economic and environmental crisis, ubiquity of technology or attempts of biopolitical management. Designers – by using “high” aesthetics, strategies for making things intentionally weird and a subversive play with functionality of objects – provoke and undermine foundations on which the social life is built, while at the same time attempting to propose new forms for its completion. Example of a lapidary table made of crisp French baguettes prepared by Rygalik Studio proves that “critical design” can explore the speculative area of this debate with efficiency equal to contemporary art.