Course detail

Design History and Theory 1

FaVU-1DTD1Acad. year: 2023/2024

The lecture series will present the basic themes, personalities and concepts of the history and theory of design from a global and local perspective (the Czech lands and Central Europe) approximately between 1800 and 1918. The cycle will have a combined form: lectures s will be complemented by seminars focused on current topics related to the lectures and reading, analysis and interpretation of key texts. In addition to the topics of the lectures, the seminar classes will discuss cross-cutting, central topics of design theory, such as the relationship between form and function, relationship to the environment, environmental responsibility, exhibiting design, education for design, (re)organization of life, taste/kitsch, production relations, etc.

 

Language of instruction

Czech

Number of ECTS credits

4

Mode of study

Not applicable.

Entry knowledge

None.

Rules for evaluation and completion of the course

For passing the course there are the following conditions:

- Active presence (50 % attendance)

- 50 % correct answers in an exam test.

 

Teaching takes place in the classrooms of the FFA BUT in the hours determined by the schedule. Attendance is compulsory (2 unexcused absences allowed). Higher number of absences can be compensated by submitting an alternative assignment after agreement with the teachers.

 

Aims

The aim of the course is to introduce important personalities, works, artistic groups, programs, institutions and key texts of European and North American design from the years 1800-1918 and present contemporary thinking about design and characterize key contemporary and contemporary texts. Students will be able to characterize basic development tendencies, key historical events, works of canonical creators, groups and institutions.

 

Completion of the course should help students strengthen the ability of analytical thinking, conduct interdisciplinary dialogue and articulate a critical view of the canon of design history and theory and its practice in the present.

 

Study aids

Not applicable.

Prerequisites and corequisites

Not applicable.

Basic literature

Kolesár, Zdeno, Kapitoly z dějin designu, Bratislava 2000
Knobloch, Iva – Vondráček, Radim (eds.), Design v českých zemích 1900-2000: Instituce moderního designu, Praha 2016
Kolesár, Zdeno, Kapitoly z dejín grafického dizajnu, Bratislava 2006
Sparke, Penny, Století designu, Praha 2002
Daniela Karasová, Dějiny nábytkového umění 19. a 20. století (4.díl), Praha 2000
Daniela Karasová, Geneze designu nábytku, Praha 2012
Noël Rileyová, Dějiny užitého umění, Praha 2004
Lada Hubatová-Vacková, Tiché revoluce uvnitř ornamentu, Praha 2012
Milena Bartlová – Jindři h Vybíral (eds.), Budování státu / Building a State: Reprezentace Československa v umění, architektuře a designu / The Representation of Czechoslovakia in Art, Architecture and Design, Praha 2015
Pavla Rossini, Jiří Pelcl (eds.), Století dánské a české nábytkové tvorby: konvergence, divergence, Praha 2018

Recommended reading

Philip Wilkinson, Design: Vrcholy světového designu 19. a 20. století, Praha 2014
Jiří Uhlíř, Michael Thonet – rodina a firma, Praha 2021
Lada Hubatová-Vacková, Martina Pachmanová, Jitka Ressová, Zlínská umprumka (1959–2011), Praha 2013

Classification of course in study plans

  • Programme DES_B Bachelor's 2 year of study, winter semester, compulsory

  • Programme VUB Bachelor's

    branch VU-D , 2 year of study, winter semester, compulsory
    branch VU-D , 2 year of study, winter semester, compulsory
    branch VU-IDT , 2 year of study, winter semester, compulsory
    branch VU-D , 2 year of study, winter semester, compulsory

Type of course unit

 

Lecture

14 hod., compulsory

Teacher / Lecturer

Syllabus

      • Fundaments of Mechanized Production: Chippendale's Guide, Henry Cole, Josiah Wedgwood, Thonet
      • Socialist Reform: John Ruskin and August Welby Pugin
      • Gottfried Semper: foundations of functional theory, theory of the museums of applied arts
      • Henry Cole, Rudolf Eitelberger von Edelberg and Museums of Applied Arts
      • Universal gesamtkunstwerk: Arts and Crafts, Viennese Modernism, Wagnerschule
      • Das Andere: Adolf Loos as theorist and practitioner
      • Connecting design with production: design collectives (Wiener Werkstätte, Artěl, PUD, Krásná jizba)

Seminar

12 hod., compulsory

Teacher / Lecturer