DHS Student Conference – EPHEMERAL ENCOUNTERS.

The word ephemeral is used to refer to things or states that only last for a short time. In times of upheaval and uncertainty, the ephemeral nature of design and design history is made apparent. Objects can be ephemeral in their nature; creators, users, and historians share fleeting encounters with materials, objects, and spaces. Wars, natural disasters, developments in technology can precipitate the disappearance of objects, sites, cultures and histories. Design historians must grapple with these ephemeralites. This conference explores ideas of ephemera, ephemerality and ephemeral encounters across the broad spectrum of design history.

PROGRAMME

12 JUNE 2026

13.15 Alternative Archives
Ærkologies: Air as _archive
- Lizzie Ridout, Falmouth University
Against the End: Objects, Ateliers, and Repair Histories in Delhi
- Garima Bhardwaj, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi
In-house to Instagram: Design Archives in Transition
- Katie Anne Martinez, The New School

14:45 Break (30 mins)

15:15 Ephemeral Sources
Ephemera and Encounters: Rethinking Canadian Graphic Design History through Archives and Memory
- Louise Paradis, Leeds Becket University
Residual Order: Visual Organisation Below the Analytical Threshold of Graphic Design History
- Zeph Tang, Victorian College of the Arts, Faculty of Fine Arts and Music, The University of Melbourne
Postcards of Parisian Theatre Women: From a Vanished World to a New Life in Display
- Karen Perlman, Fashion Institute of Technology, Alumni

16:45 End of Day One

13 JUNE 2026

10:15 Welcome
DHS Student Ambassadors

10:30 Fleeting Encounters
Ephemeral Reasoning: Reading Client Presentations as Evidence of Design Conceptualisation
- Tao Lin, University of the Arts London
Designing for Absence: Exhibition Graphics and the Ephemeral Object
- Abbie Vickress, Central Saint Martins
From Fleeting Trance to Lasting Archive: Documentary Film, Architecture, and Digital Objects as Strategies for Preserving Vimbuza Healing Dance in Northern Malawi
- Edward Nkhata, Pemphero Tembo, Alexander Nyasulu, Malawi University of Science and Technology

12:00 Lunch Break (60 mins)

13:00 Recovering Histories
Recovering Ephemeral Experience from the Orphic Gold Tablets
- Maria Marsh, King’s College London
Textile Impermanence in Design History: unearthing the weaving workshop at Sesc Pompeia in São Paulo, Brazil
- João Victor Brito dos Santos Carvalho, Faculdade de Arquitetura e Urbanismo e de Design, Universidade de São Paulo (FAUUSP)
Housing a Home: Elsie de Wolfe’s Photo Albums of/as Interiors
- Sara Shields-Rivard, Queen’s University

14.30 Break (30 mins)

15:00 Dissemination
Stereo-Typography: Can a font be racist?
- Saki Matsuura, University of the Arts London
Printing for Change: The Dissemination of Queer Communication and Publications in the UK and US
- Libbie Brindle, Norwich University of the Arts
The Geography of Appetite: Menus and the Visual Performance of Imperial Reach
- Maria Velasco Zambrano, Royal College of Art

16:30 End of Day Two

Registration via Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/dhs-student-conference-2026-ephemeral-encounters-tickets-1990642090078