Course title: Barcelona, the Rise of a Design City Language of instruction: English Professor: Sasa Markus Professor s contact and office hours: barcelonadesigncity@gmail.com ; Monday 12 13h Course contact hours: 45 Recommended credit: 3 US credits-6 ECTS credits Course prerequisites: there are no prerequisites for this course Language requirements: None Course focus and approach: This course focuses on the longstanding relationship between the city of Barcelona and design. It provides a historical background and focuses on contemporary design culture in Barcelona, emphasizing its relation to architecture and urban development. A variety of approaches will be used to successfully explore the topic, drawn from aesthetics, philosophy, sociology, history and cultural studies. These will facilitate the understanding of the crucial role design has played in shaping Barcelona s present cultural identity in both local and global contexts. Keywords: Barcelona, design, city branding, urban space and regeneration, Catalan cultural identity, modernity, material culture, architecture 1 Course description: The course looks at one of the most defining aspects of the city of Barcelona: its relationship to design and architecture. During the most exciting periods of the city s recent history, the Spanish transition to democracy (1980s) and the city s Olympic dream (1990s), design became one of the main cultural frameworks of Barcelona s identity, both locally and abroad. Paired with architecture, it provided the seeds from which ultimately emerged the narrative of the city as it is seen today: that of a sophisticated European metropolis miraculously emerging from the ashes of a decaying post-industrial provincial capital, now a hub of creative energy and a prime tourist attraction. Addressing local design practice and design retail, architecture and urban planning, as well as visual representation in cinema, this course explores ideas about local identity, modernity, social and cultural value in everyday material and visual artefacts and environments. Learning objectives: - Identify the main characteristics of Catalan design - Locate Catalan design within its broader social and historical contexts - Critically assess the impact of design and architecture on the character of the city of Barcelona - Analyze the Barcelona Brand as a design-led city in a contemporary global context
Course workload: The course workload includes lectures, class discussions, readings, field trips, on-site classes, submission of written and photo essays about the design culture of Barcelona Teaching methodology: Each theoretical session will be structured around a combination of course contents followed by a seminar discussion, encouraging the students to situate their own experience of Barcelona design culture within the wider framework of knowledge. The professor will provide brief readings as an introductory material to some of the theoretical sessions. The course will also include a number of field study trips, as well as on-site classes at locations in Barcelona relevant to the syllabus. The course includes the oral presentation in class of an individual photo-essay with Q&A session. Assessment criteria: Midterm and Term assignments will be related to the course contents; Midterm being a written essay and Term assignment a photographic essay about one specific subject related to Barcelona design culture. Class assignment will be related to the field trips and it will depend on their specific contents (the review of an exhibition attended). Participation in class discussions will be evaluated. 2 Midterm assignment: 30% Term assignment: 35% Class assignment 20% Class participation 15% Absence policy After the add/drop, all registrations are considered final and HESP Absence Policy begins to apply. For the academic year, such policy is as follows: Attending class is mandatory and will be monitored daily by professors. Missing classes will impact on the student s final grade as follows: Absences Penalization Up to two (2) absences No penalization Three (3) absences 1 point subtracted from final grade (on a 10 point scale) Four (4) absences 2 points subtracted from final grade (on a 10 point scale) Five (5) absences or more The student receives an INCOMPLETE ( NO PRESENTAT ) for the course The PEHE/HESP attendance policy does not distinguish between justified or unjustified
absences. The student is deemed responsible to manage his/her absences. Emergency situations (hospitalization, family emergency...) will be analyzed on a case by case basis by the Academic Director of the HESP. Classroom norms: - No food or drink is permitted in class - Students should come to field-trips on time and respect the norms of behavior established by Barcelona s museums Weekly schedule WEEK 1. The Culture of Design: A European Approach Course description and introduction. Introduction to the course contents and methods. Contemporary Barcelona s global image: general characteristics. Historical background: overview of design practices in Catalonia before the design boom (1960 1980). Postwar Italian and Spanish design. European approach to design. Readings: WALKER, John. 2009. Defining the object of study, in: Design Studies: A Reader. Oxford: Berg, p. 42-48. 3 WEEK 2. Nation and Design Historical links between nation and design. Catalonia: politics of regional identity in relation to Barcelona s design renaissance of the 1980s. The institutional instrumentalization of design. Readings and class discussion: FORTY, Adrian. 2009. Design, designers and the Literature of design, in: Design Studies: A Reader. Oxford: Berg, p. 16-19. Postmodern irony and (inter)national design traditions: case analysis of emblematic Catalan designs of the 1980s (Gaulino chair, Tusquets Studio, 1987; Garriri chair, Mariscal Studio, 1988, etc.) WEEK 3. Vinçon: Selling Design 1941-2015 The retailing of design-led goods: the history of Vinçon, a shop that integrated into its commercial practices crucial aspects of Barcelona s existing approaches to design, while at the same time fundamentally altering both popular perceptions of design and its social reach. On Site Class. Visit to Design Museum of Barcelona: permanent collection, exposition From the World to the Museum. Product Design, Cultural Heritage
WEEK 4. Building the Design Culture Chronology and analysis of strategies and results of City Hall s public campaign Barcelona Posa t Guapa centered on the promotion of design culture in a local context. (1985-2017) Field trip: Re-designing the industrial city: Visit to Sants Plaça dels Països Catalans, Parc de la España Industrial, Plaça Joan Peiró. WEEK 5. Barcelona s Urban Design The Barcelona Model of urban development. Citizen participation in creating the sense of locality. The construction of place. Barcelona model and Barcelona brand. Readings and class discussion: JULIER, Guy. 2009. Responses to globalization. The branding of city-nations and regions, in: Design Studies: A Reader. Oxford: Berg, p. 433-436. Recent developments in Barcelona s urban design: case-study of the project 22@ district (2000 2017) WEEK 6. Field Trip / On Site Class Barcelona modernist heritage: Visit to Hospital San Pau 4 Field trip: Public Art and Barcelona Model WEEK 7. Barcelona model through Cinema Promoting Barcelona s urban setting through cinematographic productions: All About my Mother (Pedro Almodóvar, 1999); Gaudi Afternoon (Susan Seidelman, 2001) Vicky, Cristina, Barcelona (Woody Allen, 2008) Readings and class discussion: RODRIGUEZ CAMPO, Lorena; FRAIZ BREA, José Antonio; RODRIGUEZ TOUBES MUNIZ. 2011. Tourist destination image formed by the cinema: Barcelona positioning through the feature film Vicky Cristina Barcelona, p. 137-154. Questioning the values of Barcelona model and branding strategies applied to the city through local documentaries and fiction: Under Construction (José Luis Gurín, 2001; In the city (Cesc Gay, 2003); Bye, Bye Barcelona (Eduardo Chibas Fernández, 2014), Dead City (Xavier Artigas, Xapo Ortega, 2014) WEEK 8. Contemporary Tendencies: Food Design in Barcelona Food, art and design interactions in Catalonia: Antoni Miralda, Ferran Adriá, Martí Guixé
New tendencies in food design: Mediterranean diet re-inventions and gastronomic happenings. Food Cultura space and Nyamnyam collective activities 2017. WEEK 9. Barcelona Now: Global Expansion vs. Local Struggles Urban development of Barcelona in European context. Barcelona brand in the context of other world-wide known metropolises and attractive touristic destinations. Cultural and commercial discourses developed abroad about Barcelona and its identity. Questioning the effect of Barcelona brand on an everyday life of a citizen. Citizen and tourism: a struggle for urban space. Effects of a real-estate crisis in Barcelona and responses from the city s authorities. The future development of Barcelona. Readings and class discussion: COLOMB, Claire; NOVY, Johannes (eds.). 2016. Protest and Resistance in the Tourist City. New York: Routledge, p. 1 5. WEEK 10. Field Trip / On Site Classes Temporary exhibitions related to course contents (Museums: MACBA, Santa Mónica Art Center) Temporary exhibitions related to curse contents (Museums: CCCB, Virreina) 5 WEEK 11. Presentation of students photo-essays During Session 1 and Session 2 of the last week students will present their photo-essays and make a brief explanation of their research in front of the class. Notice related to field trips and on-site classes: The contents and distribution of field trips may vary in relation to changes in Barcelona museums programs. In order to offer the best possible choice of expositions to visit we prefer not to give a definitive list of field trips for this course. Last syllabus revision: June 2018 Required readings: FORTY, Adrian. 2009. Design, designers and the Literature of design. In: CLARK, Hazel & BRODY, David (eds.) Design Studies: A Reader. Oxford: Berg. P. 16-19. JULIER, Guy. 2009. Responses to globalization. The branding of city-nations and regions. In: CLARK, Hazel & BRODY, David (eds.) Design Studies: A Reader. Oxford: Berg. P. 433-436. WALKER, John. 2009. Defining the object of study. In: CLARK, Hazel & BRODY, David (eds.) Design Studies: A Reader. Oxford: Berg. P. 42-48.
NAROTZKY, Viviana. "'A Different and New Refinement': Design in Barcelona 1960-1990." Journal of Design History 13, no. 3 (2000): 227-243. RODRIGUEZ CAMPO, Lorena; FRAIZ BREA, José Antonio; RODRIGUEZ TOUBES MUNIZ. 2011. TOURIST DESTINATION IMAGE FORMED BY THE CINEMA: Barcelona positioning through the feature film Vicky Cristina Barcelona. In: European Journal of Tourism, Hospitality and Recreation. Vol. 2, Issue 1. P. 137-154. COLOMB, Claire; NOVY, Johannes (eds.). 2016. Protest and Resistance in the Tourist City. New York: Routledge. P. 1-14. Recommended bibliography: AYNSLEY, Jeremy. 1993. Nationalism and internationalism, Design in the 20th century. London: Victoria & Albert Museum. BOURDIEU, Pierre. 1996. Distinction. A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste. London: Routledge. (Introduction p 1-7, Ch 1 The Aristocracy of Culture, especially p. 63-96). CHARNOK Greig; RIBERA-FUMAZ, Ramon. 2011. A new space for knowledge and people? Henri Lefebvre, representations of space, and the production of 22@Barcelona. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 29(4) P. 613 632. 6 CLARK, Hazel & BRODY, David (eds.). 2009. Design Studies: A Reader. Oxford: Berg. HARVEY, David. 1990. The condition of postmodernity: an enquiry into the origins of cultural change. Cambridge, Mass: Basil Blackwell, (ch. 4: Postmodernism in the City: Architecture and Urban Design) GRAHAM, Helen and LABANYI, Jo (eds). 1995. Spanish Cultural Studies, An Introduction: The Struggle for Modernity. New York: Oxford University Press. HEBRIDGE, Dick. 1988. Hiding in the light: on images and things. London: Routledge. (Ch.4: Object as Image: The Italian Scooter Cycle) HUGHES, Robert. 1993. Barcelona. New York: Vintage Books. JULIER, Guy. "Radical Modernism in Contemporary Spanish Design." In: Paul Greenhalgh (ed.) 1990. Modernism in Design. London: Reaktion Books. JULIER, Guy (ed.). 2008. The Culture of Design. London: SAGE LEFEBRE, Henri. 1998. The Production of Space. Oxford: Blackwell.
MARSHAL, Tim (ed.). 2004. Transforming Barcelona: The Renewal of a European Metropolis. New York: Routledge. NAROTZKY, Viviana. A Different and New Refinement': Design in Barcelona 1960-1990. Journal of Design History 13, no. 3 (2000): 227-243. NAROTZKY, Viviana. Coming Up For Air: Style Cultures in Post-Francoist Spain'. In Glenn Adamson and Jane Pavitt (eds.). 2011. Postmodernism: Style and Subversion 1970-90, London: Victoria & Albert Museum Publications. NAROTZKY, Viviana. 2008. La Barcelona del diseño. Ediciones de Belloch. 7