Formative assessment: Intervention summary proposal

Proposed title: Situated Design: A Three-Session Workshop for Inclusive Curatorial Practice

As part of the preparation for the MA GDC WIP Show, I propose a three-session workshop series titled Situated Design, designed to embed inclusive learning into the curatorial process of exhibition design. This intervention addresses the diversity of student perspectives, positionalities, and research contexts by making the exhibition process itself a shared learning opportunity.

The workshop will guide students through (1) infrastructural mapping of their research in relation to place, people, and systems; (2) collaborative spatial prototyping of shared zones; and (3) developing a ‘living’ presence for each zone through participatory acts like prompts, live programming, or publishing. Each step emphasizes inclusion: ensuring every voice is situated, heard, and considered in how we collectively shape the exhibition.

The diversity considered includes cultural background, communication style, access needs, research context, and personal identity. These differences are often flattened in traditional design displays. By situating knowledge relationally—rather than through dominant narratives of polished outcomes—we enable a more equitable platform for students to shape how their work is received.

The idea builds on participatory design principles and inclusive pedagogies such as “designing with, not for.” It is directly linked to my teaching context at UAL, where students come from wide-ranging geographies and disciplines, and often feel detached from exhibition-making processes driven by institutional or aesthetic norms.

Potential questions to reflect on:

Agency – Who holds curatorial authorship over what gets shown and how? How do we maintain openness while ensuring clarity and coherence?

Tone – If the format becomes too systematic or templated, does it risk becoming rigid or forced? How can structure enable rather than limit expression?

Equity – Are all students equally supported in expressing their research context? Whose voices or practices might unintentionally be marginalised?

Autonomy – How can individual approaches be maintained within a shared spatial and conceptual framework?

Next Steps: Collect feedback from students on the draft session plans, refine prompts for each zone, and liaise with staff and technical teams to support spatial and material resources.

Notes to references:

1.0 Spatial Practices
The actual way people use and move through space in their daily lifestyle.

• Fry, Tony, & Eleni Kalantidou. (2015). Design in the Borderlands. Abingdon and New York, NY: Routledge.
• Campos, Marissa Renee. (2017). Queering Architecture: Appropriating Space and Process (MA thesis). School of Architecture and Interior Design, College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning, University of Cincinnati.
• Flesler, Griselda, Anja Neidhardt, and Maya Ober: “A Conversation on the Discomfort of Feminist Design Pedagogy.” In Design Struggles: Intersecting Histories, Pedagogies and Perspectives, edited by Claudia Mareis, Nina Paim et al., 205–225. Amsterdam: Valiz.
• Lefebvre, H. (1991). The Production of Space. Translated by D. Nicholson-Smith. Oxford: Blackwell.
  Available at: https://monoskop.org/images/7/75/Lefebvre_Henri_The_Production_of_Space.pdf
• Cresswell, T. (2015). Place: An Introduction. 2nd ed. Chichester: Wiley Blackwell.

2.0 Representation of the Space
The maps, plans, the design — all abstract visual languages used to capture and represent the space.

• De Keersmaeker, A.T., Mees, M., Aerts, J.-M. & Garbin, C. (2023). EXIT ABOVE – after the tempest / d’après la tempête / naar de storm. [Dance performance] Rosas. Premiered 31 May 2023 at Théâtre National Wallonie-Bruxelles, Brussels.
  Available at: https://www.rosas.be/en/productions/953-exit-above—after-the-tempest-d-apres-la-tempete-naar-de-storm
• Conditional Design (n.d.). Conditional Design Workbook. [online] Available at: https://conditionaldesign.org/ [Accessed 27 May 2025].

3.0 Engaged / Situated Space
Spaces that are infused with our emotions, memories, and meaning — entangled with lived experience, identity, and context.

• Haraway, Donna J. (1988). “Situated Knowledges: The Science Question in Feminism and the Privilege of Partial Perspective.” Feminist Studies, 14(3), 575–599.
• Abdulla, Danah. (2018). Design Otherwise: Towards a Locally-centric Design Education Curricula in Jordan (Ph.D. dissertation). Goldsmiths, University of London.
• Escobar, Arturo. (2018). Designs for the Pluriverse: Radical Interdependence, Autonomy, and the Making of Worlds. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
• Mohanty, Chandra Talpade. (2003). Feminism Without Borders: Decolonizing Theory, Practicing Solidarity. Durham, NC and London: Duke University Press.