“Artists in Industry” Project

Started in 2011, “Artists in Industry” project is a platform which aims to encourage design theory and design research in Eastern Europe.

In the frame of the project it will be organized “Artists in industry. The Role of Design in Digital Age” International Conference, (Bucharest, 1-2 November 2011).

For more details see: http://conference.artistsinindustry.com

Romanian Textile Design Digital Archive

Also, in the frame of “Artists in Industry” project we also succed to create a digital archive dedicated to Romanian textile design between 1945-2000.  The project aimed to fill in the lack of historiographical information about Romanian modern design (even thought the Romanian textile industry was/is the second largest in Europe, there are very few studies related to Romanian textile design), but also to overtake the institutional disinterest in presenting and displaying applied and decorative arts beyond some sort of ethnographic concern (there are ethnographic collections, but there are no museums and centers dedicated to modern architecture and design). The research tried to settle the problems the design of consumption objects faced in the communist decades and the period it followed by looking at the position of designing in the context of the production of functional objects, on the status of the designer/artists in the socialist industry, as well as at the perception the design enjoyed among the public at large (consumers).

Website : www.artistsinindustry.com

The digital archive “Artists in industry” (available on-line) comprises:

• projects and visual samples realized in the frame of Romanian textile industry (in the socialist enterprises and industrial centrals). It presents also archives of designers.
• a series of semi-structured interviews with designers and engineers who worked in textile industry at the time (video and audio recordings).
• critical texts regarding the subject.

The project “Artists in Industry” was initiated by 2580 Association with the support of AFCN – National Administration of Romanian Cultural Fund.

Partners : “Ion Mincu” University of Architecture and Urbanisme (Bucharest), Romanian Society for Interior Architecture and Design, Peasant Museum, (Bucharest), Sabot Galery (Cluj), Paintbruch Factory (Cluj), Art Faculty, Oradea University (Oradea), EPEKA (Maribor, Slovenia).

Media partners : Radio Romania Cultural, Tataia Magazine, Modernism.ro.