Yael Eylat Van-Essen PhD – Curator / Researcher

Designing in the Digital Era

Our current reality is intensely influenced by the technological and scientific developments that have dramatically transformed our life patterns and the ways in which we conduct in the world. This new emerging reality, re-defines the basic concepts of existence in the world, the modes of communication between humans and with non-humans, and the manners in which man operates in regards to our planet. In this state of affairs, the designer has to meet the new challenges posed by the changing conditions, acknowledging his responsibility for their potential consequences. The design profession can no longer be based, as in the past, on clear disciplinary divisions, and is requires to operate in a research space that converge diverse fields of knowledge. It requires having a systemic view of design that can incorporate the complexities of interdisciplinary ways of thinking and operating. This lecture will introduce new design concepts based on new approaches in contemporary design. The lecture will focus on the influence of new technologies on contemporary design practices such as: generative design and artificial intelligence, rapid prototyping techniques, parametric design new material research and design for complex systems. It will refer to the new ways designers operate in a networked world in different scales; from the scale of the atom to the scale of entire cities and large ecologies.