Justin McGuirk is the new head of the Design Academy Eindhoven’s Masters course - Design Curating & Writing. He is a writer, critic and curator based in London.
McGuirk starts with Design Academy Eindhoven at a time when the reach of design thinking is extending beyond the industry. “It is true that design has emerged as a kind of meta-discipline of the early 21st-century, a discipline capable of addressing complex issues at multiple scales,” says McGuirk. “So we need critics and curators who are able to do justice to the role of design in today’s world.”
McGuirk sees big advantages to the course being introduced in a design school rather than a university. “There is a real opportunity for burgeoning writers and curators to be embedded amongst design practitioners,” he says. “I think for students to be exposed from the start to actual practitioners and to forge alliances with them as they develop projects and, later, careers is a big advantage.”
Added to that is the growing reality that every year there are masters graduates who remain more focused on writing, or the more curatorial component of their studies – many even graduate with their thesis as their main project. These students are less classical designers, and more design thinkers.
This observation lay at the heart of early discussions between the three current masters department heads - Jan Boelen (social design), Louise Schouwenberg (contextual design), Joost Grootens (information design) and creative director Thomas Widdershoven. They were also concerned that too often design writers and curators are educated in art meaning that they come to look at design with an art perspective. To train design writers and curators from within the design world - especially given the growth of design’s reach - has become urgent.
“It also just makes good sense,” says Justin McGuirk. “Design Academy Eindhoven is already producing some of the best and most sophisticated designers in the world so it should also be a place that nurtures future design critics and curators, adding that extra level of intellectual depth.”
The Design Writing & Curating course has been designed to attract students with a BA in design but also other academically educated students. All Design Academy Eindhoven masters candidates should apply with a subject or research theme that they want to explore.
“What we want are engaged, critical and self-starting students who are ready for two years of intense discussion and research,” says McGuirk. “Another advantage to a design-style education is that it encourages students to self-initiate and develop their own practices. Within that, the challenge of course is to maintain a rigorous academic standard.”
What sets this new department apart is that it is partly embedded in the three existing design masters departments. Successful candidates will work closely and collaborate with other design students from the start and throughout the design process.
The application deadline for new masters students is Monday 25 May, 2015.