Symposium The Design of History and the History of Design


London College of Communication
15 September, 2025



Book a ticket

SpeakerS and Abstracts:

Huda Almazroua
Alberto Atalla Filho
Russ Bestley
Kevin Biderman
Silvia Bombardini
David Cross
Dora Souza Dias
Sam Gathercole
Ian Horton and Ian Hague
Jennifer Hankin
Zarna Hart
John-Patrick Hartnett
Fenella Hitchcock
Abbie Vickress and Sakis Kyratzis
Christopher Lacy
Timothy Miller
Danah Nassief
Jesse O’Neill
Nina O’Reilly
Patrick O’Shea
David Preston
Cheryl Roberts
Rebecca Ross
Antoin Sharkey
Andrew Slatter
Kate Trant
Vanessa Vanden Berghe
Judy Willcocks
Christin Yu



A symposium for UAL’s Design History research community


The Design of History and the History of Design is a one-day symposium that maps research into, through or at the boundaries of design history at UAL. While design history may underpin our teaching across different disciplines, research in design history across UAL is somewhat hidden. This symposium aims to share and make visible the work of researchers (staff and students) at all career stages across all UAL colleges.

Exploring the intersections of historical narrative and design practice, it examines how history is constructed, represented, and mediated through design, and how the discipline of design itself is shaped by its evolving historiography.

The symposium will serve as the starting point for a Design History Network at UAL, bringing together researchers from across the university. It also lays the foundation for a welcoming research community in design history, with potential for ongoing events, collaboration, publications, and curriculum development.

If you have any questions or would like to be involved in future activities, please get in touch with the convenors:

Rujana Rebernjak
r.rebernjak@lcc.arts.ac.ukTai Cossich
t.cossich@lcc.arts.ac.uk
Please also sign up for the UAL Design Histories Newsletter




    Antoin Sharkey
    The Architecture of the Musuem: a history


    The history of the museum is a story of power, politics, and differing ideologies. In the late 20th century, there was a rise in the number and scope of museums. At the same time, there was an expanding complexity in the soft power of the museum as tastemaker.  

    How has the logic of the museum shifted within this history? In what ways do these institutions construct and revise their own histories? What role does the physical space of the museum’s architecture play in the construction of these narratives. In what ways can recent theories of the contemporary help us to understand the museum’s current status and how it may continue to shift?   

    I hope to engage with these questions using the speculative methodologies I am developing in my PhD research—no answers only questions; practice of unknowing, the inability of words to capture the complexity of how I feel; conditions of contemporaneity. I hope to examine the ways these methodologies be utilised to remain present in the current time—a present in which there is a coming together of heterogenous modes and histories simultaneously. Can these methodologies be used to understand the current logic of the museum and the ways it impacts museum design and architecture?   

    This presentation will provide a little history in the design and architecture of the western museum in the 20th and 21st century. It will introduce the ways in which shifts in the design of museums can be traced back to shifts in the politics and logic of the time. A construction of history that is both literal and symbolic. It will suggest approaches that might assist with examining the ways museums deal with the competing ideologies of their constructed histories versus their current present when designing and building their physical spaces. 



    — Antoin Sharkey


    Antoin Sharkey is a PhD student, artist and researcher. Antoin’s research examines recent theories of contemporary and the impact of contemporary conditions on artists, art institutions and knowledge production. His research is concerned with expanding the understanding of the contemporary and developing new methodologies for being in the present.  

    Antoin is currently working on completing his PhD thesis ‘For Now: Methodologies for an Art of the Present.’ He continues to develop his artist practice, most recently exploring abstraction of contemporary signs and signage. Throughout 2025, Antoin will continue his presentation of the ongoing performance series, ‘I love,’ at contemporary art institutions internationally.