According to Benedict Anderson, ‘Communities are to be distinguished, not by their falsity/ genuineness, but by the style in which they are imagined,’ (Imagined Communities, 1983). Referring to Anderson’s analysis of the nation as an imagined community, this proseminar explores how fashion, graphics, interiors and architecture helped shape national, social, and ethnic, sub-cultures and artistic communities. The aim of this course is to allow students to use historical ideas and theories to think on contemporary design and themes. National and International political ideologies, migration and emigration, civil rights movements, construction of historical narratives, and the search for unifying visual symbols were integral to the fashioning of modern societies in Europe and in the US since the nineteenth century.

In the past few months we have witnessed critical developments such as reintroducing border controls in Central Europe and the Brexit justified by politicians as reactions to free migration movement within the EU and the refugee crisis resulting in large emigration from Asia and Africa to the EU. These developments raise urgent questions concerning the relevance of shared cultural identifications in the European Community and what role does design serve in fashioning and mediating European identifications in times of crisis? This course focuses on the role of design in fashioning diverse communities in Europe and in the US. It further explores how the creative tension between the quest for uniformed collective and the heterogenic character of modern society influenced modern design.

Critical considerations in our examination address the influence of demographic transitions and economic changes in different cities in Europe and in the US on the design of different communities. Theoretical texts examine the relationship of psychology and sociology to design and the role of visual culture in the formation of communities. This proseminar provides architecture, industrial design, graphic design, and fashion students as well as cultural, architectural, and design history students with novel and applied strategies relevant to the practice of their profession.

The course requirements are reading assignment of theoretical text, theme presentation in class and proseminar paper based on referat.