Björn Franke

mail@bjornfranke.com

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Biography

Björn Franke is Lecturer in design history and theory at the University of Applied Arts Vienna and Visiting Lecturer at the Zurich University of the Arts and the Royal College of Art in London. He has been awarded fellowships at the Akademie Schloss Solitude as well as the Artist Residency Schloss Balmoral and his work has been published and exhibited internationally, most recently at the Design Museum Holon in Israel and the Kunsthalle Mainz in Germany. His research interests lie in the relationship between design, technology and philosophy; in particular how the shifting technological landscape alters human behaviour, relationships and self-conceptions.

Education

2007–present
PhD Candidate, Design Interactions, Royal College of Art, London, UK

2006
MA (RCA), Design Products, Royal College of Art, London, UK

2003
Dipl.-Des. (FH), Industrial Design, Muthesius Academy of Fine Arts and Design, Kiel, Germany

Professional History and Fellowships

2010–present
Lecturer, Design History and Theory, University of Applied Arts Vienna, Austria

2010–present
Visiting Lecturer, Department of Design, Zurich University of the Arts, Switzerland

2009
Fellow, Künstlerhaus Schloss Balmoral, Bad Ems, Germany

2008–present
Visiting Lecturer, Critical and Historical Studies, Royal College of Art, London, UK

2008–2010
Fellow, Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart, Germany

2001–2004
Design Consultant, Syndicate Brand & Corporate Design, Hamburg, Germany

Conferences and Lectures

Panellist, Design der Zukunft II, Duale Hochschule BW Ravensburg, Germany, April 26–27, 2013

Convenor, Design as Politics / Politics as Design, Guest Lecture Series 2012, Department of Design History
and Theory, University of Applied Arts Vienna, Austria

Lecture, “Staged Situations,” Rauchwolken und Luftschlösser, University of the Arts Bremen,
Germany, 16–18 February 2012

Panellist, Anti-Design: Prescription for Rebellion, Papanek Foundation Symposium, University of Applied Arts Vienna, Austria, 10–11 Nobember 2011

Lecture, “Design Objects as Objects of Understanding,” Department of Design, Zurich University of the Arts, Switzerland, 6 June 2011

Convenor, Making/Crafting/Designing - Perspectives on Design as a Human Activity, Design Theory Symposium, Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart, Germany, 10–12 February 2011

Speaker, “Design Fiction is Not Necessarily About the Future,” Negotiating Futures - Design Fiction,
Sixth Swiss Design Network Conference, Basel, Switzerland, 28–30 October 2010

Lecture, “From Human Futures to Posthuman Futures,” Territories of the In/Human, Würtembergischer Kunstverein, Stuttgart, Germany, 29 July 2010

Lecture, “Existential Technologies,” Künstlerhaus Schloss Balmoral, Bad Ems, Germany, 27 May 2010

Lecture, “Design as Inquiry,” Dialogues in Design, Royal College of Art, London, UK, 2 March 2010

Speaker, “Design as Ethical and Moral Inquiry,” CEPHAD 2010 Conference, The Danish Design School,
Copenhagen, Denmark, 27–29 January 2010

Speaker, “Designing the Self,” The Design of the (In)Human, Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart,
Germany, 19–21 November 2009

Speaker, “Design as a Medium for Inquiry,” Multiple Ways to Design Research,
Fifth Swiss Design Network Symposium, Lugano, Switzerland, 12–13 November 2009

Lecture, “The Design of the Self,” IZEW, Universität Tübingen, Germany, 25 May 2009

Speaker, “Manufactured Fears,” Dealing with Fear, Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart, Germany,
18–20 October 2007

Speaker, “Artefacts as Influential Actors,” Design/Body/Sense, Design History Society Conference,
Kingston University, London, UK, 5–7 September 2007

Speaker, “Affective Sensory Extensions,” Persuasive 2007: The Second International Conference on
Persuasive Technology, Stanford University, Palo Alto, USA, 26–27 April 2007

Speaker, “Manufactured Evidence,” Something Fake, Platform 21, Amsterdam,
The Netherlands, 5 October 2006

Lecture, “Designing Fear,” Department of Design and Media Arts, UCLA, Los Angeles,
USA, 11 January 2005

Publications

Franke, Björn. “Design Fiction is Not Necessarily About the Future.” Sixth Swiss Design Network Conference, Negotiating Futures - Design Fiction (2010): 80–90.

Franke, Björn. “Violent Machines for Troubled Times.”In Dealing with Fear, edited by Julia Warmers. Stuttgart: Akademie Schloss Solitude, 2010.

Franke, Björn. Violent Machines for Troubled Times, Bad Ems: Künstlerhaus Schloss Balmoral, 2010.

Franke, Björn. “Design as Ethical and Moral Inquiry.” CEPHAD 2010: The Borderland between Philosophy and Design Research. Copenhagen Working Papers on Design No. 1 (2010): 71–72.

Franke, Björn. “Design as a Medium for Inquiry.” Fifth Swiss Design Network Symposium, Multiple Ways to Design Research - Research Cases that Reshape the Design Discipline (2009): 225–232.

Franke, Björn. “Traces of an Imaginary Affair.” In Fetisch + Konsum/Fetish + Consumption, edited by Jean-Baptiste Joly, Catherine Perret, and Julia Warmers. Stuttgart: Merz & Solitude, 2009.

Exhibitions

2013
Senza Pericolo, Triennale di Milano Design Museum, Italy, 3 May 2013 – 1 September 2013

2012
Kama: Sesso e Design, Triennale di Milano Design Museum, Italy, 5 December 2012 – 10 March 2013

2010
KM 500/3, Kunsthalle Mainz, Germany, 19 November 2010 - 16 January 2011
Designed Disorder, CUBE, Manchester, UK, 1 - 31 October 2010
Territories of the In/Human, Würtembergischer Kunstverein, Stuttgart, Germany, 30 April - 1 August 2010
The State of Things: Design and the 21st Century, Design Museum Holon, Israel, 4 March - 22 May 2010

2009
Hortus Conclusus/Apertus, Künstlerhaus Schloss Balmoral, Bad Ems, Germany, 3–11 October 2009
Love Design, Klaus Engelhorn Depot, Vienna, Austria, 1–10 October 2009
Show Three, Whirled Cinema, London, UK, 4 July 2009
Promise, Practice, Protocol, Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart, Germany, 14 May - 4 July 2009
Love Design, Galleria Nina Lumer, Milan, Italy, 22–27 April 2009

2008
Die Römer VI - Kommunikologie, Projektraum Römerstrasse, Stuttgart, Germany, 15 November 2008
Open Studios, Sommerfest, Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart, Germany, 5 July 2008
Fetisch & Konsum, Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart, Germany, 29 May - 5 July 2008

2007
The Art of Research, Lume Gallery, Helsinki, Finland, 1–12 October 2007
Village Fête, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK, 27–28 July 2007
Digitalinability, DMY 2007, Berlin, Germany, 17–20 May 2007

2006
Eden ADN, Biennale Internationale Design Saint-Étienne, France, 22 November - 3 December 2006
Something Fake, Platform 21, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 6–27 October 2006
Weapon World, Café de Lumiere, Taipei, Taiwan, 7–14 November 2006
The Wellcome Trust’s Travelling Apothecary, London, UK, 16 September 2006
Generation, Royal College of Art, London, UK, 23 June - 2 July 2006
Designsuburbia, DMY 2006, Berlin, Germany, 18–21 May 2006

Features in Books, Magazines and Other Media

2012
Blood, Trunk Volume Two, 2012, Australia
Design of the In/Human, Akademie Schloss Solitide, 2012, Germany

2010
Pie Paper, Issue 2, 2010, New Zealand
d[x]i magazine, No. 37, March 2010, Spain

2009
IdN, 15th Anniversary Edition, 2009, Hong Kong
Esquire, Vol.23 No. 4, April 2009, Japan
Interview on RCN RADIO, 21 March 2009, Colombia
The Guardian, 12 March 2009, UK
Love Design, DAAB, 2009, Germany

2007
Code Magazine, Issue 5, Autumn 07, Belgium
VIA, 03/06, June 2007, Austria
IdN, Vol.14 No.1, April 2007, Hong Kong

2006
Cool Hunting, East Street Publications, 2006, Australia
Icon 41, November 2006, UK
Vogue, October 2006, Korea
Viewpoint, No.20, September 2006, UK
Designers' Workshop Tokyo, Vol. 23, No. 149, September 2006, Japan
Icon 39, September 2006, UK
Static, Issue 3, The London Consortium, July 2006, UK
ID Magazine, June 2006, USA
+Design, No.45, March/April 2006, Greece
Max, 03/06, Italy
Homme, 02/15, Spain

2004
Swiss Typographic Magazine, 03/04, Switzerland

2003
Design Report, 05/03, Germany

2002
Design Report, 02/02, Germany

Grants and Awards

2009
6 month Fellowship, Künstlerhaus Schloss Balmoral, Bad Ems, Germany

2007
14 month Fellowship, Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart, Germany

Links

Royal College of Art / Design Interactions / Design Interactions Research

University of Applied Arts Vienna / Design History and Theory

Zurich University of the Arts / Interaction Design