Brown Fine Arts Center
Graham Hall-HILLYER
Design and Research: Employing the book as mode of inquiry, lecture by Ken Botnick
Art
“Design and Research: Employing the book as mode of inquiry” will illustrate how the book has been a catalyst for research and exploration in courses taught by Ken Botnick at Washington University’s School of Architecture and College of Art, and the architecture program at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris. Ken will discuss student projects that integrate visual research, problem solving and innovative craft. Ken’s students have investigated ways that digital technologies and design thinking can transform the traditional shape and content of the book. Exploring questions about the form, content and role of the book is especially engaging now, as we imagine the library of the future at Smith. Ken’s lecture may help to spark new modes of inquiry in this process. Since Ken will outline a multidisciplinary approach to innovation, this event could appeal to an unusually broad audience, including artists, architects, engineers and those interested in Landscape Studies and Book Studies.
Ken’s innovative approach to teaching design has been shaped by his dual role as director of the Kranzberg Book Studio and professor in the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University. His most recent book, Diderot Project, has attracted unprecedented attention, including recognition at the Codex Foundation’s biannual Symposium in February, the Enid Mark Lecture here at Smith in April, and the MCBA Prize, awarded biannually by the Minnesota Center for Book Arts in July. Ken will serve as visiting faculty at the Conway School of Landscape Design, with courses in design practice and design thinking.