Design Culture(s)

DUE TO COVID-19, THE CONFERENCE
HAS BEEN POSTPONED FROM 2020
TO JUNE 8-11, 2021 CHECK FAQ.

Towards Design Culture(s): a message from the Cumulus Roma Team.

After one year of pandemic crisis, for which our conference was postponed to June 2021, we are immensely grateful for the Cumulus family for their patience and continued support.

In fact, we are glad to report that already more than 400 delegates have confirmed their participation in the conference, which will be primarily virtual.

We will do our best to make the virtual participation as lively as possible, not only by broadcasting most activities, but also by establishing (and experimenting) new ways of online interaction.
We are working to develop new forms for the parallel and plenary sessions, for the schools exhibitions and posters sessions, for the new members fairs as well as for the extra events around the city.

After closing even the special track “New Normal”, we are proud that more than 1000 academics (co-)authored a contribution responding to the call for papers, posters or exhibitions. Let’s not forget the effort of hundreds of reviewers and forty track co-chairs.

Beyond our calls, we eagerly await to see again the Cumulus Working Groups, which will bring an engaging dialogue as always.

While looking forward to June in Rome, naturally we feel the pandemic challenge and hope that also the design community can help to move the World beyond it. Take care.

Loredana Di Lucchio, Lorenzo Imbesi (Conference Chairs)
Angela Giambattista, Viktor Malakuczi (Conference Managers)
Luca D’Elia, Gianni Denaro, Paolo Cenciarelli (Conference Design Team)

CONFERENCE THEME

Aligned with the vision of Cumulus Association and its commitment for sharing design knowledge and practices in a global and multidisciplinary perspective, Sapienza University of Rome will host the Annual Cumulus conference with the aim to house and to foster the international debate on the current cultural, social, and economic challenges in design.
In particular, the conference is calling designers, academics and experts to tackle the relationship between Design and Culture, with the purpose of valorizing interdisciplinarity and diversity in Cumulus community.

The working title of the Conference is “Design Culture(s)” and it is aimed to map the most advanced research and education in design, by reflecting on the idea of design as a form of culture, while drawing its field and opening to new directions.

Design Culture(s) is investigating not simply on the concept of culture as a monolithic expression of a specific knowledge that reflects on itself, but as the product of an investigation that is open to many different “Cultures” which are emerging and revolving around it in society, in the places and in history.

We live in an increasingly complex society, which is crossed by new social, cultural and economic challenges and at the same time it is more global and multicultural than ever, more and more enriched by new languages and the flows of people.

As a consequence, design is evolving as a wide-open field with many new applications and cultural meanings.

Design as expression of Culture(s) is taking into consideration the cultures we are inheriting from the past and which should be granted for the benefit of future generations, so intertwining past and future, tangible and intangible, innovation and tradition.

This is the time when it is urgent to multiply the opportunities for knowledge sharing and dissemination, in order to tackle the cultural, societal, economical, technological and industrial shifts of the future, through design education and research.

CITY OF ROME

The theme Design Culture(s) has undoubtedly an international appeal because it is addressing the challenges of our time and the city of Rome is the ultimate place to embody such quality: it’s notoriously a rich city for history and tradition, but also an important global capital, which is projected towards the future. It’s a cosmopolitan and multicultural city, which treasures a multitude of concepts and visions. In such scenario, which is rich in history and culture, attendees are also invited to visit and learn about a city of great interest.

More: https://cumulusroma2020.org