Work-in-Progress PhD seminar: (In)visibilities by Lene Hald

This Work-in-Progress seminar is an evaluation of the individual doctoral candidate’s progress 50% through her PhD work. At this midway presentation the doctoral candidate is given the opportunity to present and receive feedback on her work so far, as well as defining her further work.

Associate Professor Jamer Hunt (Parsons the New School for Design) and Assistant Professor Erling Björgvinsson (MEDEA) will offer constructive critique of the work-in-progress.

Everybody is welcome, please notify us at lhal@kadk.dk if you intent to participate, and if you wish to receive a copy of the work-in-progress text.

The PhD project “(In)visibilities – a designerly approach to visual field engagement “ by Lene Hald is a collaboration between KEA – Copenhagen School of Design & Technology and KADK – The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Schools of Architecture, Design and Conservation, School of Design. The PhD project started February 1st 2013. The midterm evaluation is taking place on June 8, 2015, KADK.

Abstract

What are the aesthetic and transformative potentials of using visual and designerly methods within an ethnographic field study concerning youth and the formation of identity? This is the overall concern in Lene Hald’s PhD project (In)visibilities. The PhD project seeks to highlight how the aesthetic and visceral language of photography, design and artsbased practice might be applied to an ethnographic study. It is a project about visibilities and invisibilities, which through a designerly approach to visual field engagement seeks to democratize the process of creating images with people, instead of of people, thereby questioning the truth of dominant accounts and allowing for other perceptions and stories to become visible. Through co-designerly experiments, photographic portraiture and expressive image-making related to the formation of identity in a youth context, the aim is to open up possibilities for agency: On a subjective level in terms of a participatory process, which will facilitate the visual stories of the participants in a way that enables them to visualize and communicate in a meaningful, and experimental way about their identities and experiences; on a broader scale as an attempt to stage spaces for a renegotiating of discursive debates, and the enabling of cross-cultural and democratic dialogue through aesthetic imagination.