Abstract
There is much academic debate on the idea of design practice as research; Dickey (2002), for example, refers to research as “a fact-based activity” and design practice as “a series of subjective commitments”. Langer (1942) suggests that although objects may express ideas, those ideas are not presented as a legitimate form of language, thus cannot be compared with the discursive properties of the written word. For over fifty years, such comments have polarized academic opinion, suggesting that research and design practice are somehow mutually exclusive. The intention of this paper is to examine design research as a liminal pursuit where innovative design research outcomes and funding possibilities exist at the threshold between oppositional activities.
Citation
O'Brien, D., and Dane, J. (2004) Bathing the Dog: Research-Based Practice at the Experimental Nexus of Art and Design., in Redmond, J., Durling, D. and de Bono, A (eds.), Futureground - DRS International Conference 2004, 17-21 November, Melbourne, Australia. https://dl.designresearchsociety.org/drs-conference-papers/drs2004/researchpapers/193
Bathing the Dog: Research-Based Practice at the Experimental Nexus of Art and Design.
There is much academic debate on the idea of design practice as research; Dickey (2002), for example, refers to research as “a fact-based activity” and design practice as “a series of subjective commitments”. Langer (1942) suggests that although objects may express ideas, those ideas are not presented as a legitimate form of language, thus cannot be compared with the discursive properties of the written word. For over fifty years, such comments have polarized academic opinion, suggesting that research and design practice are somehow mutually exclusive. The intention of this paper is to examine design research as a liminal pursuit where innovative design research outcomes and funding possibilities exist at the threshold between oppositional activities.