Design: Metaphor, Evolution, and Eugenics

An ongoing discussion that started with Metaphor, Morphometrics, and Category now continues around the pivotal theme of Design. Christina Cogdell, Winner of the 2005 Edelstein Prize from the Society for the History of Technology and interactive video-sound artist David Stout will contrast their contemporary work with the historical design trends Cogdell outlines in her research.

An expert on U.S. cultural history of the 1930s, especially the popular interest in eugenics and streamlined design, Cogdell is an assistant professor of art history at the College of Santa Fe. Her research in the pop science of eugenics shows its influence extended beyond Nazi efforts to create a master race to areas as diverse as industrial design and women’s clothing. Christina is author of the book Eugenic Design: Streamlining America in the 1930s,

One of the worlds leading laptop performers exploring real-time cross-synthesis of sound and image, Stout won the Harvestworks Interactive Technology Award and the Sun Micro Systems Award for Academic Excellence (2004) and was a nominee for the both the WTN World Technology Award (2003) and the International Media Art Prize (2004). His work in interactive media includes electro-acoustic scores for stage and screen, live cinema, video-dance, data-base narrative, noise performance and telematic video events that emphasize multi-screen projection as an extension of performer, audience and environment.