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Philosopher Vilém Flusser (1920-1991) is mostly known for his works on New Media and their influence on the consciousness of mankind. For him, the replacement of the alphanumeric code with technical images has had an even stronger impact on society than the industrial revolution of the 19th century and will still bring about substantial changes in aesthetics, politics and the sciences. In addition to his theory of communication, he also wrote several essays about design and art theory as well as three seminal books about design and visual art: Vom Stand der Dinge (The Shape of Things, 1999), Gesten and Vom Subjekt zum Projekt. Yet despite this broad recognition, there is almost no academic discussion on his ideas about design (or processes of formalization in general), which include (but are not limited to) the limitations and possibilities in the act of creating and the political and ethical implications of designed objects. The Jan van Eyck Academie is setting up a symposium that focuses on the following issues:

1. Limitations of the process of designing: The relationship between the designer and the apparatus (Lecturer: Christian Gänshirt, Berlin)
2. Intersubjective objects: Towards an ethical theory of design (Lecturer: Chadwick Truscott Smith, New York)
3. Creativity based on a dialogical network (Lecturer: Marcel René Marburger, Cologne)
4. “Vorurteilsloses Entwerfen”. The use of the phenomenological method for the liberation of the act of designing (Group discussion). more info