Schools of Departure No. 1: Decolonising Design Education maps the history and future of radical reform in art and design education, tracing how ten collectives in formerly colonised regions are reshaping what it means to know and make.
About This Book
This publication begins where the Bauhaus ends — or rather, where its limits become visible. Emerging from an exchange between the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation and Gudskul, a Jakarta-based collective, Decolonising Design Education assembles historical case studies, conversations, and in-depth reports from ten art and design collectives working in formerly colonised regions. Rather than treating decolonisation as a theoretical position, the book documents concrete educational practices and institutional experiments. Central to its argument is the concept of ‘travelling concepts’ — ideas that shift meaning as they cross geographies, times, and cultures — framing decolonial design pedagogy not as a fixed doctrine but as a living, plural project. Essential reading for educators, practitioners, and students invested in the politics of design knowledge.
Key Features
- 195 pages of historical case studies, editorial conversations, and in-depth reports from ten art and design collectives
- Edited by JJ Adibrata, Regina Bittner, Katja Klaus, and Philipp Sack
- Contributions from Bauhaus Dessau Foundation and Gudskul
- Part of the Schools of Departure series, accompanied by a digital atlas of experimental approaches to art and design education
- Published by Spector Books, ISBN 9783959057479
What You'll Discover
- How ten art and design collectives in formerly colonised regions are developing educational practices outside Western institutional frameworks
- The concept of ‘travelling concepts’ — how design ideas shift connotation as they move across geographies, cultures, and historical moments
- Narratives of appropriation that move through different educational traditions, questioning whose knowledge systems are legitimised in design pedagogy
- How the Schools of Departure series positions experimental art and design education as a global, relational field rather than a Eurocentric lineage
About the Author
This edition was produced through a collaboration between JJ Adibrata and farid rakun of Gudskul — a Jakarta-based collective — and Regina Bittner, Katja Klaus, and Philipp Sack of the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation. Together, the editorial team brings together perspectives from European institutional history and Southeast Asian collective practice.
Specifications
- Format: Softcover
- Pages: 195
- Dimensions: 11 × 15 cm
- Language: English
- ISBN: 9783959057479
- Publisher: Spector Books
- Publication Date: [Details available upon request]
Perfect For: Design educators and students questioning inherited curricula, researchers in postcolonial design theory, and practitioners engaged with collective and community-based pedagogical models.