Silvio Lorusso & J. Dakota Brown

*Was ist zeitgemäß? (WIZ) – This question brings together a group of students and teachers from the communication design department of Burg Giebichenstein Kunsthochschule Halle. We question the present day, we question the future: how can communication design respond appropriately to the challenges of today? To discuss current practices and positions, we invited to controversial dialogues.

For the second WIZ* Jour Fixe Silvio Lorusso and J. Dakota Brown were invited to discuss contemporary visions of design teaching.

Silvio Lorusso is a writer, artist and designer based in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. In 2018 he published his first book Entreprecariat. Lorusso holds a Ph.D. in Design Sciences and he is an assistant professor and vice-director of the Centre for Other Worlds at the Lusófona University in Lisbon. He is a member of Varia, as well as being a part of the editorial board of Italian graphic design magazine Progetto Grafico. 

J. Dakota Brown is a designer and educator working on the relationship between design and labor – to be read in two of his essays: "The Power of Design as a Dream of Autonomy" and "Typography, Automation and the Division of Labor: A Brief History" He studied graphic design and critical theory, and is now completing a Ph.D. in the Rhetoric and Public Culture Program at Northwestern University. Brown teaches across art history, design, and writing at several art and design universities and maintains an active practice centered around book and journal design.