Representing University of Santo Tomas, Manila, Philippines
Participated in the Cumulus conference In this place
April 27 – May 1, 2016 in Nottingham, UK. Hosted by NTU

The universe has a way of making things happen at the exact time and place. Being part of the Cumulus Nottingham-Trent design conference is an experience of being churned out the vortex to new plateaus in a figurative sense, that is, from the idylls of a historic Manila campus to another, in the quaint city of Nottingham.

The participation + grant comes after the first encounter with the Cumulus in 2015 during the academic conference of the International Design Congress in Gwangju, Korea. In Nottingham, it is coming face-to-face with the rest of the Cumulus network that seemed like standing before long-lost relatives and friends from the other side of the equator. Outside the conference venue, the weather has always been chilly cold but delegates who traveled from different parts of the world always warmed up to the ensuing discussions on contemporary topics and issues in art and design. The exchanges drew out as many viewpoints as varied as diverse as scenarios from various participants present.

And so, the tone was set for rest of the five-day design conference. For the more than 200 participants representing art, design and media education and research including myself, the confluence is apparent in the random meetings of the minds amid the colorful arguments and diverse perspectives.

‘In This Place”, aptly captures the need to pin down common ground on relevant issues confronting art, design, and media. In deriving new thinking and paradigms among peers and kindred spirits, the various case studies on innovation and sustainability illustrate the growing multi-disciplinarity of the creative practice. In some cases, it is more than linking history to material culture. In the search for identity, design narratives re-examine itself within constructs of society and built environments. Space planning and cybernetic serendipity, a concept expounded by one of the plenary speakers, Daniel Glaser (2016) illustrates the undeniable link between the arts and the sciences that again showed the parallelisms in the methodologies of knowledge production. To the design educator cum practitioner who is reminded to always retain the natural curiosity by Cumulus president Luisa Collina (2016), the importance of place and how it impacts design cannot be underestimated. Thus, the assembly and the conference had set the appropriate stage for the discourses.

The increasing mobility of design students and practitioners and issues on design skills and industry expectations, was an engaging topic. The international relationships between and among the members expand the scope of boundaries in education and practice. The prospects are exhilarating and overwhelming that resonates the aspiration that the Cumulus conference in Nottingham-Trent signals. From a personal viewpoint, it is a commitment to internationalize higher education in art, design and media. For the University of Santo Tomas in Manila, Philippines, founded 1611, its more than four centuries of history and fine tradition, again put it in a position of leadership to bolster greater participation in a multi-national dialogues and cooperation to conversely contribute to its own region.

The opportunity given by the Cumulus participation plus grant truly translates this far-reaching aspiration. It is indeed in linking with the larger communities of movers and leaders in art, design and media that higher education finds relevance. And just as the 2015 World Design Congress and other international conferences on design have affirmed, the Cumulus Nottingham-Trent design conference in Great Britain, further changed the perspectives of how institutions in design education should operate. Collaborations between the industry and the academe cannot be overstated despite the many obstacles. More than the spirit of internationalization facilitated by the Cumulus, it is the sense of belonging to the growing mobility of students and the academe that the platform of the organization truly enables all its members and affiliates throughout the world toward this end.

by: Guillerma L. Mendoza, MBA
Assistant Professor, College of Fine Arts and Design
University of Santo Tomas
Manila, Philippines

About Cumulus PLUS+

The aim is to create the opportunity for friendship between people and generate partnership and exchange of knowledge between the different institutions. Cumulus mobilizes candidates with a travel grant to come over to the conferences under the Cumulus umbrella. The target group are academics and staff working in colleges and universities in art, design and media in higher education from different parts of the world and countries less familiar to Cumulusians.
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