Pedalando sul trattore:

Victor Papanek

Victor Papanek

Abstract

Contribution by Viktor Papanek published in Modo, n. 7, March 1978.

Author Biography

Victor Papanek

(1923-1998) designer, educator and author, was born in Vienna, Austria escaped to the United States in 1939 following the Anschluss of Austria to Nazi Germany. Educated at the Cooper Union New York in architectural design. Early on in his career, he became a follower and ally of Buckminster Fuller who wrote the preface to the first English language edition of Papanek’s widely read and seminal publication "Design for the Read World: Human Ecology and Social Change" (1971).
In the course of his career, Papanek applied the principles of socially responsible design in collaborative projects with concerns such as UNESCO and the World Health Organization. He considered design as a political tool in recently decolonised nations as well as peripheral communities in Europe and the USA.
A polemicist of both words and objects, who used his designs to provoke the large-scale rethinking of design’s social purpose in everyday life, Papanek’s career spanned the shifting terrain of twentieth-century design culture. It is telling that his most experimental work took place in the setting of universities and colleges in politically conservative American states.
Along with the influential "Design for the Real World" (1971), Papanek’s publications (co-authored with James Hennessey) include "Nomadic Furniture I" (1973), "Nomadic Furniture II" (1974), and "How Things Don’t Work" (1977). He is the sole author of "Design for Human Scale" (1983) and "The Green Imperative" (1995).

Pedaling on the Tractor

Ad Hoc Technologies for the Third World

Abstract

Author Biography