Design Education Talks ep. 62 – Bradford Hansen-Smith

Lauren Alexander – Designing with Care, Complexity, and Responsibility – Design Education Talks

Lauren Alexander is an artist, educator, and researcher whose practice operates at the intersection of design, critical inquiry, and collective work. Born in South Africa in 1983 and now based in the Netherlands, her trajectory reflects a sustained engagement with questions of power, history, and representation. Trained originally as a graphic designer, Alexander has gradually expanded her practice beyond service based design, developing a research led approach that uses storytelling, archives, and collaboration as tools for cultural and political reflection She is currently co head of the Bachelor Graphic Design programme at the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague where she works alongside Chantal Hendriksen to shape the strategic direction of contemporary design education. Between 2017 and 2024, she developed and taught Critical Storytelling in the MA Non Linear Narrative programme, a course centred on collaborative research methodologies and the examination of complex socio political contexts. Across her teaching, Alexander emphasises uncertainty, ethical responsibility, and critical literacy, encouraging students to engage deeply with both material and digital cultures rather than seeking quick or resolved outcomes Alongside her academic role, Alexander is co founder of Foundland Collective, a long term collaborative practice established in 2009 with Syrian designer Ghalia Elsrakbi. Foundland’s work investigates political narratives, migration, and media representation through art, design, writing, and video, and has been recognised internationally through fellowships, awards, and exhibitions at institutions such as the Centre Pompidou, Ars Electronica, and the Rotterdam International Film Festival. Together, Alexander’s educational and artistic practices articulate a vision of design not as neutral problem solving, but as an ethical and cultural practice embedded in history, power, and lived experience Find more about her work here https://www.kabk.nl/en/teachers/lauren-alexanderhttps://foundland.info/Support the showSince its inception in 2019, Design Education Talks podcast has served as a dynamic platform for the exchange of insights and ideas within the realm of art and design education. This initiative sprang from a culmination of nearly a decade of extensive research conducted by Lefteris Heretakis. His rich background, intertwining academia, industry, and student engagement, laid the foundation for a podcast that goes beyond the conventional boundaries of educational discourse.See all of our work on on https://linktr.ee/thenewartschoolFollow us on twitter at @newartschoolRead our latest articles at https://newartschool.education/and https://heretakis.medium.com/Equipment used to produce the podcast:Rodcaster pro IIRode NT1 5th generationElgato Low profile Microphone ArmMonster Prolink Studio Pro microphone cableThe rest of the equipment is here 👉https://kit.co/heretakis/podcasting
  1. Lauren Alexander – Designing with Care, Complexity, and Responsibility
  2. Design as Experience: Ksenija Miļča on Interiors, Branding and Education
  3. The Education of Attention: Esen Karol on Design, Publishing and Joy Teaching Designers to See: A Conversation with Esen Karol
  4. Simon Collins – What Design Schools Get Wrong About the Real World
  5. Graham Fink – Why Process Matters More Than Finish in Creative Work

NEW YEARS SPECIAL PODCAST WORKSHOP!!!

Bradford Hansen-Smith spent the first half of his life as a sculptor; then it changed. Inspired by the work of Buckminster Fuller he took ten years to educate himself in geometry and math seeing that it all goes back to the image we draw of the circle. The next thirty-two years he has been exploring folding circles with people interested. Without any degree, and no certification, he taught folding circles in and out of classrooms, from first grade through college level, working with teachers, presenting internationally a new approach to geometry and mathematics, a new way to do and think about what we do. During that time, he has written seven books and has published papers on folding circles.

He calls this approach Wholemovement, folding the circle for information. It is comprehensive through the hand-on experience of folding the circle as unity and observing what is revealed. This is about the transforming changes of order and organization all in one place; nothing is added or taken away. Information is not constructed or put into the circle. Through a principled sequence of folding, observing, and reforming, the directives for the process are inherent to unity in the circle, it is whole. Folding the circle demonstrates spherical unity beyond all other shapes and forms. It is about learning to see what is not seen, attending to what we do, and to use what is revealed to discover what we do not know. This provides any folder with experience to know circles are not what we are told they are, they are so much more: as it is with most information we are given.
 
His work can be found at; 
https://www.wholemovement.com/
https:// http://www.facebook.com/wholemovementSupport the show

Follow us on twitter at @newartschool
Visits us on https://linktr.ee/thenewartschool
Read our latest articles at https://heretakis.wordpress.com/
and https://heretakis.medium.com/

Leave a comment