Senior Lecturer, Contextual Studies Lead, Graphic Design
Dr Artun Ozguner is a design historian who leads Contextual and Theoretical Studies within the Graphic Design programme at the UCA School of Communications.
Bio
Before joining UCA, Artun has been a visiting lecturer in various other institutions. These include the MA History of Design programme, jointly run by the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Royal College of Art as well as the Arts University Bournemouth.
Artun has been awarded his PhD from the V&A / RCA History of Design programme in 2020, entitled Inheritance / Disavowal: Commemorating and Representing the Nation-State in Turkey from Empire to Republic, 1908-1940s. He holds a master’s degree in Design Studies from the Izmir University of Economics, Faculty of Fine Arts and Design (2013) and a professional master degree in Graphic Design from the Istituto Europeo di Design, Milan, Italy (2015), during which he worked with companies like Fratelli Branca and Mediaset. He has also received training in illustration at School of Visual Arts, New York and UAL Central Saint Martins.
Research statement
Artun's main research interests include practices of commemoration, nationalisation of material culture and design resources, graphic design history, visual and print culture. Artun’s research explores the negotiation of national consciousness between official and public design practices, materialities and rhetoric. Particularly the slippages that occur between the official culture of commemorating and representing nation states as opposed to more individual practices of reminiscence through material culture.
Artun is particularly interested in the role of visual communication design as it is used to manifest and disseminate ideas on material constructs such as technology, architectural landmarks, ruins, the cultural landscape and monuments.
Research supervision
Current Research Students:
- Anna Kampouri, 21st century graphic novels for children: Connections between the representation of spatial settings and socialization.
- Rose Gridneff, Designer as Archivist: The Archival Turn in Graphic Design Practice.
Completed Master by Research Supervision (as Primary Supervisor):
- Chella de Bay, ‘On the Tracks of Modernity: A study of the Orient Express design culture, 1880 1930’, V&A/RCA History of Design Programme.
- Claire Yixuan Zhang, ‘Metro Design Language: The Rise of Flat Design in User Interface Design’, V&A/RCA History of Design Programme. Awarded DISTINCTION.
- Greer Lockyear, ‘Two Pints of Cisk and a Packet of Twistees: Cultural Hybridity in British-style pubs in Postcolonial Malta’, V&A/RCA History of Design Programme. Awarded the V&A Wainwright prize.
- Inigo Campbell-Lange, ‘An Exploration into the Entangled Narratives from which the Swiss Typeface Helvetica Emerged’, V&A/RCA History of Design Programme.
Professional Membership, Affiliation and Consultancy
- Member of Design History Society
- Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (2021)
- Trustee of the Design History Society, Communications Officer (2019-2022)