MFA in Design in Child Culture - needing assistance on the methods and process section.

MFA program application

I am applying for a MFA program at HDK in Gothenberg, but because I do not have a BFA, I need to rely on my BA and experience in the artistic community over the last 10 years. I have included what required questions I have answers thus far to give some background, and I am stuck on the third question, which I have also highlighted in red. Thank you so much in advance.

· the subject area in design you have investigated or want to investigate

In present day, children take on a dual role within society. Children are viewed as dependents of adults and therefore in need of protection and guiding principles. However, children are also seen as autonomous individuals with there own needs, thoughts and independence. This dual role activated during the process of emotional and intellectual growth gives active meaning to the environments that children find themselves placed in. I aim to investigate the collective public environments that contains these interactions. Too often, these spaces created for children act as a barrier and boundary within the larger context. Instead of fostering a symbiotic relationship with adults within these environments, there is a dichotomy created between these intergenerational relationships.

The design of these spaces does not stop at the environment itself. This failure in design continues further into the objects and furniture within these spaces. The objects that children often interact with, because of their poor material construction and lack in dimensionality, act as a barrier to the interactions between adult and child. Designs are often created to have short-term appeal solely to the child or to the adult exclusively without consideration given to longer-term interactions that these designs could cultivate. Within this context, we lose the ability to create for both child and adult simultaneously, therefore losing the opportunity for harmonious and inspiring design.

· what question(s) your project is concerned with

How can I, through design, integrate a symbiotic relationship between adult and child? How can I, through active child and adult participatory approach, design objects and spaces that foster the elements of play, inclusion and empathetic value? According to Eva Gulløv, a senior lecturer at the Danish University of Education Copenhagen "...the kinds of places that society allows to children will, to a great extent, influence their ability to develop new social and cultural contexts of life that do not just reflect the existing social order of which they are part, but rather carry the potential to modify this order." Therefore, not only does this practice determine the current status of relationship and experience, this strength in design has the ability to influence future context.

By questioning the elements and intention of design within child culture, I open up further questioning around the placement of children as citizens within the adult-centric societal context. How can I activate the social participation of child and adult in these designs? What other stakeholders can be involved in this process? How can I responsibly build on the contemporary concept of child citizenship through these designs?

Angela, the first question you responded to is very good. It is an interesting space concept to investigate. I too have often wondered about how the design of spaces can help foster relationships although this is the first time I thought of how the space design affects a child's relationship with an adult. However, when it comes to the questions, I feel like you have listed several questions and referred to someone else for a possible response. If you had shared your assumptions regarding the possible answers and presented these in question form, then the presentation would have been more engaging and interactive. Somehow an implied question delivers the idea that you know what sort of research your project will have to do in order to deliver the appropriate response rather than presenting questions that seem random in presentation.

I apologize about the deletion of the last part of your essay because you are only allowed to post one essay per thread, or a series of short response Q&A's in one thread. The last part of this thread needs to be posted as a separate thread because of its length and different focus from these 2 connected statement discussions. Please post it separately so that I can review it for you in a more appropriate manner. Thanks.