Research activities at Kunsthøgskolen i Bergen (Bergen National College of Art and Design) have been so far regarded as »kunstnerisk utviklingsarbeid« (artistic development) within the insititution. Lecturers and professors from the artistic departments at Kunsthøgskolen i Bergen (KHiB), engaging in this kind of artistic research, have been focusing on very personal projects, like creating their own catalogue, or setting up an exhibition.

The essence of those projects is the artist working in a self-sufficient and independent way on his very own personal art-project. This kind of artistic research practice distances itself from the common academic definition of research.

But is it sensible to apply this practice and understanding of research, which works so well for the artistic departments, on the design department?

»[…]Art is valued for its originality and expressiveness. Its focus is on individual artifacts crafted through the manual and aesthetic virtuosity of the artist. Design, in contrast is valued for its fitness to a particular user and task.[…]«
Kevin Mullet, Darrel Sano

According to the »classical« definition of the discipline, it is obvious that design is closer related to the scientific academics than it is to arts. Although especially in recent years, more and more designers are converging the art-world by expressing themselves and their own personal message through non-commissioned projects.

Looking on current issues in design research, the greatest number of research projects works to a specific solution of a problem or task. »User-centered design« or »sustainable design« are some keywords. In my personal understanding of design, the traditional design approach is always »user-centered« to successfully communicate the message that has to be transmitted through the design. Engaging in this kind of research the designer provides a very direct benefit to the society. Here, the model of the independent, self-sufficient working designer does certainly not function.

»[…]The designer is a visually literate person, just as an editor is expected by training and inclination to be versed in language and literature, but to call the former an artist by occupation is as absurd as to refer to the latter as a poet. […]«
Douglas Martin

In introducing Interaction Design as a new focus point, not only for the curriculum of Visual Communication, but also as my personal field of research, I want to create an interdisciplinary fundament, a connection point for the different academic institutes in Bergen. I also plan to integrate design students into research activities right from the beginning. Interaction Design is an interdisciplinary field. It concentrates on the relation between humans and technology and enables a seamless communication and conversation between user and application. Interaction designers are cultural engineers: They use design to create the culture, to new relationships (between nature, culture, machine), to create new circumstances.

This interdisciplinary fundament will (hopefully) be manifested by a common theory program beginning in study year 2004/2005 that is organized and financed by the section for Humanistic Informatics of Bergen University (UiB) and the section of Visual Communication (KHiB), the initiators are Dr. Jill Walker and Prof. Susanna Hertrich.

///////////////////////////// Bergen, march 2004.