PROJECT CO-FUNDED BY
Anti-Amnesia posits that in order for endangered craft practices to have continued and far reaching relevance in economy, society, and culture, it has become imperative to create provisions for a long-term dialogue with education. It would help craft activities avoid being restrictively classified as regional cultural showpieces, and aid in curtailing situations of cultural appropriation. The project’s agenda has thus been to consolidate structured and replicable resources and pathways for academia to
add value – in and with traditional industries – that can subsequently serve as a preamble for further activation of specialized craft knowledge. In this regard, the project has conducted and participated in several research events whose aims have been to prepare traditional knowledge systems for informing, and simultaneously, finding agency in newer social, cultural, and industrial paradigms.
The Anti-Amnesia Forum was organised on 8 May 2019 at the University of Aveiro during the consortium ‘Immersions 2019 — A design innovation week’, with a view to expand on discourses surrounding the project’s motto of ‘design research as an agent for narrative and material regeneration and reinvention of vanishing manufacturing cultures and techniques’. Principal investigator of the project Heitor Alvelos made the opening keynote while invited speakers Michael Pierre Johnson and Mafalda Moreira from the Glasgow School of Art and Nuno Dias from University of Aveiro presented parallel interventions / case studies that share AA’s concerns regarding the relationship between traditional crafts and contemporary design.
In November 2020, the project organised two public webinars which were held in collaboration with UPTEC and were aimed at various entities representing creative industries including students, researchers, makers, entrepreneurs, and manufacturers.
Cultural and creative industries have a favourable impact on society, culture and economy and play a critical role in sustainable growth and promotion of cultural diversity. For this reason, government regulations grant creative entities legal rights and incentives to create, manage, disseminate and protect their work. It is with the purpose of increasing knowledge about intellectual property laws that the webinar
“Knowledge Management in Traditional Making and Creative Industries” has been organized. By bringing together entrepreneurs, professionals, educators and legal experts specialized in the creative sector, the intention has been to list challenges and opportunities that can contribute to protect intellectual property in this sector.
The webinar has brought together various perspectives on how design can generate added value in creative industries, in terms of both products and processes. The expert panel, comprising creative entrepreneurs, design professionals, and design educators have shared their personal experiences of how inculcating aspects of design in traditional workflows can help optimise intellectual assets, and uncover further capacities to innovate. The panel has discussed the efficacy of design to potentiate distinctiveness — a core criterion for creative industries in the contemporary era — as a means of reaching
out to new audiences and market segments, while consolidating customer retention strategies. In sequence, design educators were invited to provide key insights on how modern pedagogical approaches are preparing future designers and makers to navigate present-day uncertainties regarding industries and entrepreneurship; and simultaneously foster opportunities for developing generative resources that can help promote and perpetuate the key importance of creative industries to economy and culture.
The project has presented its findings in over 30 national and international research events and conferences, covering a broad spectrum of thematic discourses, including on craft and industrial heritage, design research, active learning, and on specific contexts such as textiles and letterpress typography, among others.
Anti-Amnesia posits that in order for endangered craft practices to have continued and far reaching relevance in economy, society, and culture, it has become imperative to create provisions for a long-term dialogue with education. It would help craft activities avoid being restrictively classified as regional cultural showpieces, and aid in curtailing situations of cultural appropriation. The project’s agenda has thus been to consolidate structured and replicable resources and pathways for academia to add value – in and with traditional industries – that can subsequently serve as a preamble for further activation of specialized craft knowledge. In this regard, the project has conducted and participated in several research events whose aims have been to prepare traditional knowledge systems for informing, and simultaneously, finding agency in newer social, cultural, and industrial paradigms.
The Anti-Amnesia Forum was organised on 8 May 2019 at the University of Aveiro during the consortium ‘Immersions 2019 — A design innovation week’, with a view to expand on discourses surrounding the project’s motto of ‘design research as an agent for narrative and material regeneration and reinvention of vanishing manufacturing cultures and techniques’. Principal investigator of the project Heitor Alvelos made the opening keynote while invited speakers Michael Pierre Johnson and Mafalda Moreira from the Glasgow School of Art and Nuno Dias from University of Aveiro presented parallel interventions / case studies that share AA’s concerns regarding the relationship between traditional crafts and contemporary design.
In November 2020, the project organised two public webinars which were held in collaboration with UPTEC and were aimed at various entities representing creative industries including students, researchers, makers, entrepreneurs, and manufacturers.
Cultural and creative industries have a favourable impact on society, culture and economy and play a critical role in sustainable growth and promotion of cultural diversity. For this reason, government regulations grant creative entities legal rights and incentives to create, manage, disseminate and protect their work. It is with the purpose of increasing knowledge about intellectual property laws that the webinar “Knowledge Management in Traditional Making and Creative Industries” has been organized. By bringing together entrepreneurs, professionals, educators and legal experts specialized in the creative sector, the intention has been to list challenges and opportunities that can contribute to protect intellectual property in this sector.
The webinar has brought together various perspectives on how design can generate added value in creative industries, in terms of both products and processes. The expert panel, comprising creative entrepreneurs, design professionals, and design educators have shared their personal experiences of how inculcating aspects of design in traditional workflows can help optimise intellectual assets, and uncover further capacities to innovate. The panel has discussed the efficacy of design to potentiate distinctiveness — a core criterion for creative industries in the contemporary era — as a means of reaching out to new audiences and market segments, while consolidating customer retention strategies. In sequence, design educators were invited to provide key insights on how modern pedagogical approaches are preparing future designers and makers to navigate present-day uncertainties regarding industries and entrepreneurship; and simultaneously foster opportunities for developing generative resources that can help promote and perpetuate the key importance of creative industries to economy and culture.
The project has presented its findings in over 30 national and international research events and conferences, covering a broad spectrum of thematic discourses, including on craft and industrial heritage, design research, active learning, and on specific contexts such as textiles and letterpress typography, among others.
The project “Anti-Amnésia: Investigação em Design como agente para a regeneração e reinvenção, narrativas e materiais, de culturas e técnicas de manufactura portuguesas em desaparecimento” (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-029022) is supported by Competitiveness and Internationalisation Operational Programme (POCI), under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and through national funds by the FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia.
