Saurabh Tewari

In September 2017, I got an opportunity to participate and present in  ' Does Design Care...?,' a workshop at the Imagination Lancaster (Design Department of the LancasterUniversity, UK). As a bunch of interdisciplinary and multi-focus designers, we deliberated on the idea of care through/in Design. We revisited iconic Munich Charter and came up with a vision document, Lancaster Care Charter, which is now published in the latest issue of Design Issues by MIT Press. I thought of sharing the same with you. 

Abstract
In the fall of 1991 the Munich Design Charter was published in Design Issues. This charter was written as a design-led "call to arms" on the future nations and boundaries of Europe. The signatories of the Munich Design Charter saw the problem of Europe, at that time, as fundamentally a problem of form that should draw on the creativity and expertise of design. Likewise, the Does Design Care…? workshop held at Imagination , Lancaster University in the autumn of 2017 brought together a multidisciplinary group of people from 16 nations across 5 continents, who, at a critical moment in design discourse saw a problem with the future of Care. The Lancaster Care Charter has been written in response to the vital question "Does Design Care…?" and via a series of conversations, stimulated by a range of presentations that explored a range of provocations , insights, and more questions, provides answers for the contemporary context of Care. With nation and boundary now erased by the flow of Capital the Charter aims to address the complex and urgent challenges for Care as both the future possible and the responsibility of design. The Lancaster Care Charter presents a collective vision and sets out new pragmatic encounters for the design of Care and the care of Design.

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I presented "Design in Visions" at 10+1 ICDHS Conference. I discussed a thread of the journey of Design in India through various institutional visions and how it interacted with various postcolonial politico-economic developments at the centre. The paper analysed and presented the visions as foundational, developmental, postmodern, neo-liberal and retrospective. Post presentation, the Q&A included a discussion on the other possible forms and threads of Design History in India and comparitive developments in other greographies.

Out of the four Keynotes, I personally liked the Alain Findelli's (University of Nimes) talk for its broader historiographical nature. He critically reflected the journey of design in the last hundred years across the world. At the same time, I feel that it was inevitably Eurocentric until he discussed contemporary cases of community resilience and co-design from North Africa.
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ICDHS is a platform which seeks to challenge the existing histories of design by presenting otherwise 'peripheral' versions. There was a significant participation from Latin America, Scandinavian nations,  Japan and Taiwan. My paper from India fitted well into the purpose of the conference. In the coming years, ICDHS seeks to decolonise the discourse of Design too. I hope the design, architecture and planning educators from India will contribute to the larger movement of decolonisation. 

दिल्लीवालों को समर्पित।
यह मेरा शहर! कब आएगा मुझे नज़र?
यह मेरा शहर! 
कब होगा मुझे इस पर फ़क़र? 
यह धुँध कब छँटेगी, 
कब आएगा मुझे कुछ नज़र?
लगभग दो करोड़ लोगों का घर, 
ये दिल्ली शहर, 
अब दर बदर,
दर्द भरा मंज़र।
हर तरफ़, बस बुरी ख़बर, 
ना दिखती कोई डगर, 
हिंदुस्तानी इतिहास का सबसे निराला नगर,
आज चिमनी क्यूँ बन गया पर?
साँसे है रुक गई, 
पास है दिखती क़बर, 
धुआँ धुआँ सा है, 
इंसान ही का है ये क़हर।
गाड़ियाँ अब भी दौड़ रही, 
स्कूल क्यूँ बंद है मगर?
सियासत की रोटी सेकते राजा वज़ीर, 
पर प्यांदे क्यूँ खाए ज़हर?
जब धूप सुहानी आ जाए, 
उस वक़्त बता देना पहर।
यह मेरा शहर! 
बस आ जाए मुझे नज़र?
- सौरभ तिवारी 
10 नवम्बर 2017

Does Design Care... ? A workshop on Design and Care at Imagination, Lancaster University. I presented Sarvodaya (Ruskin, Gandhi) as one of the ideas of care and Khadi as it's manifestation. ​>More...

At this year's DHS' Annual Conference, I presented my ongoing research project, 'Raw, Repair, Refurbish: ‘Re-Use’ Design Culture from India. 

Read here http://www.designhistorysociety.org/blog/view/feature-a-tryst-with-the-past-design-history-workshop-at-nid-ahmedabad

Image Source and Copyright: Outlook Money