The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted health practices, the global economy, and the way we live. The arts in higher education have been severely affected, with institutions around the world slowly reopening for autumn 2020 and planning being developed for new ways to teach and learn.

Some of the impact of COVID-19 is visible and well-documented, but critics have suggested that the pandemic could have repercussions for our democratic societies that are far less visible. Decision-making by governments in times of social upheaval is not always immediate or transparent. This makes us consider whether democratic processes should be subjected to more scrutiny. Protecting privacy during turbulent times as people utilise virtual meetings for both professional and private connections is increasingly problematic. How can educational institutions and the arts work together to protect the health and safety, economy, and privacy of those they serve?

This virtual conversation was moderated by David White, of the University of the Arts London. David has worked at the intersection of teaching, research and digital for over 20 years. This has taken him from hand-coding websites for the BBC Natural History unit through to his current job of helping to run the largest Creative Arts university in Europe as Head of Digital Learning.

The online session featured three speakers:

Ariel Guersenzvaig is a senior lecturer and researcher at ELISAVA Barcelona School of Design and Engineering. With one foot in practice and the other in theory, Ariel teaches and writes about design theory and methodology, service design, and the philosophy and ethics of design and technology. He is currently writing a book on design professional ethics for Rowman & Littlefield International (expected publication: December 2020).

Karin Harrasser is a Professor for Cultural Theory and Vice-Rector at University of Art and Design Linz. Her research focuses on techniques and media of the body, popular culture and science fiction, gender and agency, genres and methods of Cultural Studies. She has taken part in numerous projects at the intersection of arts, humanities and science communication e.g. with Mobile Academy Berlin and Haus der Kulturen der Welt Berlin. Together with Elisabeth Timm, she is editor in chief of Zeitschrift für Kulturwissenschaften.

Photo credit: Violetta Walkolbinger

Hael Kobayashi is a Director at Arup, where he leads Global Digital Strategy across the firm. An internationally recognized innovation leader, he is the co-editor of the UN/UNESCO Netexplo publications “Human Decisions: Thoughts on AI” and “Human Learning in the Digital Age”.

This webinar formed the start of a conversation that was meant to have taken place at the global seminar at ELISAVA School of Design and Engineering in Barcelona on 8 and 9 June 2020, on the topic of ‘Art in the Era of Populism’. The global seminar, jointly organised by ELIA and our North-American colleague network ICFAD with host institution ELISAVA, has been tentatively postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. New dates to be confirmed.

The recording of the online session is available exclusively to ELIA members here.