Presentation
As part of the exhibition "Here We Are! Women in Design 1900 – Today", Fundación Proa and Diseñadores de Interiores Argentinos Asociados (DArA) present a program of talks and a workshop aimed at students and graduates of design-related disciplines, especially industrial design. Participants may join the entire series (in which case certificates will be issued) or attend individual talks independently.
This initiative is intended for universities, schools, academic departments, cultural institutions, etc., linked to design, architectural, and project-based disciplines. As many institutions and qualified registrants as possible may take part, up to the capacity limits of the online platform and auditorium. This format allows the program to scale and reach participants across the country.
The thematic axis of the event is structured around the chair, a design fetish object and disciplinary icon. This essential piece of furniture serves as a starting point to share knowledge and reflections that go beyond the object itself, addressing topics related to people; modes of inhabiting domestic and public spaces; technologies, languages, styles, and trends; professional careers and their intersections with industry and the production system—including the history of furniture.
Program coordinators and curators: José Luis Zacarias Otiñano and Analía Cervini.
- CHAIR + TECHNOLOGY. New tools for designing and teaching furniture in the digital age
- CHAIR + DOMESTIC SPACE. The object and the act of inhabiting: space design
- CHAIR + PERSON. The object as a territory of expression: product design in the past, present, and future
- CHAIR + FUTURE. Designing the meaning of the chair in future living scenarios
CHAIR + TECHNOLOGY. New tools for designing and teaching furniture in the digital age
Led by: Rocío Nerón Coiro and Alfredo Guzmán – With the participation of Dolores Mallea and Miguel Echeverría
In a context of accelerated technological transformation, furniture design—and particularly the chair as an iconic object of the discipline—is being profoundly shaped by tools such as 3D printing, virtual reality, digital fabrication, and more recently, artificial intelligence.
This session proposes an exploration of how these technologies are reshaping contemporary design processes and transforming the education of new generations of designers, who today have access to technical means unprecedented in the history of the discipline. These tools not only modify the formal and material language of objects, but also establish new methodologies within both educational and professional environments. The session will present specific case studies from university teaching and applied research that help illustrate how these technologies are being integrated into creative development and the transmission of design knowledge.
Speakers: Rocío Nerón Coiro and Alfredo Guzmán, Industrial Designers (FADU – UBA) and professors of furniture design at Universidad Di Tella.
Conversation with: Architect Dolores Mallea (Sur del Cruz) and Industrial Designer Miguel Echeverría (Cúmulo and Números Primos).
CHAIR + PERSON. The object as a territory of expression, product design in the past, present, and future
Throughout history, the chair has transcended its necessary functional qualities to become a fetish object—one that marks the identity of renowned professionals or the signature of distinguished industrial brands. This class invites participants to reflect on the chair as an iconic design piece, review both local and global examples that have shaped individual and collective histories, and share productive and conceptual strategies from industrial design. It also raises questions about the future meaning of the chair and the design profession itself.
Lecture by: Dr. in Design and Industrial Designer Analía Cervini – Director of the agencies Total Tool and Design Achievement; professor in undergraduate and graduate programs at Universidad Austral, postgraduate programs at the University of Buenos Aires, and postgraduate and doctoral programs at the Pontificia Bolivarian University of Medellín.
Panel participants: Industrial Designer Patricia Lascano, Industrial Designer Juan Kayser, Industrial Designer Juan Pablo Molina, and Architect and Visual Artist Pilar Giambastiani.
Lab: CHAIR + FUTURE. Designing the meaning of the chair in future living scenarios
The rapid transformation of contemporary living—driven by digitalization, changing workspaces, shifts in urban centers, the rise of the global digital nomad, evolving family structures, co-living models, new ways of traveling, renting instead of owning, hybrid learning, and virtual education, among many other factors—has brought the traditional concept of the chair, and furniture in general, into question.
This lab offers a space for critical thinking and creative proposals, inviting participants from across the southern territories to imagine new concepts and ideas for chairs, seating, and equipment geared toward a future environment aligned with emerging desires and aspirations. These include environmental awareness, cultural expression, social equity, macro- and micro-economics, visual language, and aesthetics.
The lab is conceived as a conceptual design hackathon—a half-day, in-person event held simultaneously at Fundación Proa and at participating institutions across Argentina that apply to join the initiative.
Its goal is to explore the future challenges of material making, reflect on the evolving meaning of the chair, and share creative visions from across the country. The lab builds on the context of the historical exhibition presented at Fundación Proa in 2025.
IDA – PROA Seminar | History of Design in Argentina Proa and Fundación IDA invite participants to register for this seminar, which revisits the history of Argentine design through a sociological lens—an essential perspective for understanding the discipline as part of a society’s collective memory. Rather than treating design as a series of styles or trends, this approach frames it as a record of the country's shifting ways of life, modes of production, ideological debates, and power relations. In this light, every object—be it a piece of furniture, a graphic design, or an everyday item—becomes a testament to broader historical processes. Fundación IDA’s contribution, through its specialized archive and ongoing work in documentary recovery, also enables a critical discussion on how design heritage is constructed—and by whom. The seminar thus not only revisits the past but also engages a pressing question: what role does design play in shaping Argentina’s cultural history, and how can that story be collectively told? Throughout the seminar, a range of objects and case studies will be examined to explore materials, techniques, production methods, and ideological positions. The sessions will also address curatorial strategies within cultural institutions, the narratives built around design, and the milestones that have shaped its public presentation in Argentina. Fundación IDA—the first archive dedicated to Argentine design—will share insights from over a decade of work documenting and preserving the nation’s graphic and material design heritage.
Presentation
Organized by Fundación IDA, the seminar explores the history of design in Argentina from a sociological perspective—an approach that positions design as a record of social, economic, and cultural transformations. The program invites reflection on its role in shaping collective memory and the ways in which heritage is preserved and legitimized.
Verónica Devalle, History of Design in Argentina
Franco Chimento, Argentine Furniture: Fragmented Trajectories and External Dialogues (+ Q&A session)
Verónica Devalle, History of Design in Argentina
How to narrate the history of design in Argentina. The problem of defining the origin of design in Argentina and Latin America. Local traditions, legacies, and reformulations. The early 20th century and the tradition of craft workshops and graphic arts. The avant-garde years. Design connected to the idea of the "human environment." The 1950s and the emergence of the first university-level design programs. The 1960s focused on industrial production. The 1970s and the professionalization of design. Design tied to the service economy and the rise of neoliberalism in the 1990s. The 2001 crisis and new possibilities for design: authorial design, activist design, and social design. Recent decades: emergences and trends.
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Verónica Devalle
Verónica Devalle holds a degree in Sociology (UBA), a Master’s in Cultural Sociology and Cultural Analysis (IDAES, UNSAM), and a PhD in Art Theory and History (Faculty of Philosophy and Letters, UBA). She is a Tenured Full Professor of “Communication 1 and 2” in the Graphic Design program at FADU (UBA), and Interim Full Professor of “Design and Cultural Studies” in the Graphic, Fashion and Textile, Industrial, and Image and Sound Design programs at FADU, UBA. She is an Independent Researcher at CONICET and Director of the “Aesthetics” Section of the Institute of American Art at the Faculty of Architecture, Design and Urbanism (UBA). She is the author of La travesía de la forma. Emergencia y consolidación del Diseño Gráfico (1948–1984) and co-editor, with Leonor Arfuch, of Visualidades sin fin. Imagen y diseño en la sociedad global. She co-edited issue 43 of Anales, titled Relatos del diseño, published by the Institute of American Art and Aesthetic Research (FADU, UBA) alongside Rosa Chalkho. She has also published numerous academic articles in national and international journals and has been an invited speaker at institutions including UNAM, USP, Universidad Tadeo Lozano, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, and Universidad de Chile. Her research focuses on the history of disciplines—particularly the design disciplines.
Franco Chimento, Argentine Furniture: Fragmented Trajectories and External Dialogues
A review of furniture and equipment design in Argentina from the early 20th century to contemporary production, based on the analysis of key projects. Through the characteristics of specific objects, the session explores formal, material, and technical qualities, ideological positioning, and responses to different needs, contexts, and historical events. The proposal aims to analyze the connections between Argentine furniture and the international scene, identifying moments of convergence, resonance, and exchange which, in relation to the pieces exhibited, allow us to reread certain episodes in its history through a relational lens.
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Franco Chimento
Born in Mar del Plata in 1992, Franco Chimento is an industrial designer (UNMdP and UFMG, Brazil), holds a Master’s degree in Design for Strategy and Innovation (UNNOBA), and is currently a PhD candidate in Arts (UNLP). Since 2015, he has worked as a design researcher at the Center for Research and Actions in Industrial Design (CIPADI) at UNMdP, and since 2023 he has been a member of CONICET. He has taught Sociology, Product Design III, and Textile Design III at UNMdP, and Product Design III at UNR. His work has been recognized in competitions and projects such as Design Tok&Stok (São Paulo, 2016), Concurso Innovar (2017, 2019, 2020), Proyecto Deseo – FAIMA (2018), DesignxLife – The Art Design Lab (Paris, 2020), and Trama (Ecuador, 2023). Since 2020, he has overseen heritage management at Fundación IDA and has led the Product Design department since 2023. He has served as a jury member for notable design and innovation competitions such as Innovar, the Argentine Furniture Salon, and currently the Sello Buen Diseño Argentino. In 2025, he will join the Museum of Modern Art of Buenos Aires as curator of Argentine design.
Andrea Gergich, Graphic Design: Visual Culture and Graphic Culture in Argentina. The Beginnings of the Profession, Between Craft and Consolidated Design
Graphic design in Argentina emerged from multiple converging processes. In the early 20th century, when visual culture was dominated by graphic production, many printing traditions were challenged by new visual languages influenced by avant-garde movements and technical innovations. These transformations were not linear, but gave rise to diverse paths and developments—both in instrumental practices and in the visual and material aspects of printed design. This class explores some of those processes and graphic design products in Argentina during key moments of cultural change and the transition toward the formation of graphic design as a professional discipline.
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Andrea Gergich
Andrea Gergich is a Graphic Designer and holds a Master’s degree in Communicational Design from FADU-UBA. She is also a PhD candidate in Art History (EIDAES-UNSAM). Her teaching and research focus on the theoretical frameworks of design, with particular emphasis on the history of graphic design and visual culture in Argentina. She is Director of the BA in Design and Visual Communication at Universidad Nacional de Lanús (UNLa), and Regular Professor of History of Design, Pre-professional Practice, and Final Project Workshop in the same program. She co-teaches the Seminar History of Design in Argentina, and is Associate Professor of History of Design in the Graphic Design program at FADU-UBA. She also leads the postgraduate seminar Image and Design: The Construction of Modern Visualities in the Master’s in Communicational Design at FADU-UBA. Gergich is a researcher and director of projects funded by Amílcar Herrera (UNLa), UBACyT and PIA (FADU-UBA), Mecenazgo (City of Buenos Aires), and an external researcher at CIAP (UNSAM-CONICET). She organizes academic extension activities such as talks and conferences and curates design exhibitions. She currently coordinates the Academic Committee of the Latin American Network of Graphic Culture (Red-CG). She is the author of articles in specialized journals and book chapters, and is a regular speaker at national and international academic conferences.
Mariel Szlifman, Design in the White Cube: Design Collections and Exhibitions in Argentina
Museums play a key role in revisiting and reshaping the structures that define cultural and historical narratives. Through museography, curatorial discourse, and staging, they contribute to a more diverse understanding— in this case, of design history. In this session, Mariel Szlifman —Director of Fundación IDA— examines a series of case studies (from 1963 to the present) to reflect on the importance of exhibiting design in cultural institutions. The museum context is understood as a semiotic statement in which a particular experience is designed—predetermined by factors such as architecture, museum programs, curatorial narratives, communication strategies, and institutional branding. How does the language of “exhibition” affect design pieces, turning them into musealized objects?
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Mariel Szlifman
Mariel Szlifman holds a Master’s degree in Communicational Design and a degree in Graphic Design from FADU (UBA). She is the Director of Fundación IDA – Research in Argentine Design, an institution dedicated to the preservation and dissemination of Argentine design, both historical and contemporary. She is a Full Professor in the Graphic Design and Image and Sound Design programs at FADU (UBA), and teaches in the BA in Design program at Universidad de San Andrés (UdeSA). As an independent designer and curator specializing in art, media, and expanded design, she collaborates on various projects with artists and cultural institutions across Argentina and Latin America. She has curated exhibitions at Fundación Andreani, Centro Cultural San Martín, CASA Fundación Medifé, Espacio 34_35 / Palacio Barolo, Galería Gachi Prieto, and the Centro Metropolitano de Diseño; and developed the exhibition design for “FACTO 10 – Festival Arte, Ciência e Tecnologia”, BIENALSUR, MACT, UFSM, Brazil. Between 2016 and 2023, she co-led several research projects at UBA and Universidad del Cine. Her authored and co-edited publications include Tangencia. Diseño y felicidad, ambición, crisis, rebeldía (Fundación Medifé Edita, 2024), Derivas virtuales (Intermedia Eds., 2024, e-book), Intermedia. Ensayos sobre una praxis académica (Nueva Librería, 2021), and El nuevo arte de diseñar libros (Wolkowicz Ed., 2018). She has published academic articles in journals in Argentina, Colombia, Brazil, and Mexico.
Raúl Naón (President of Fundación IDA) and Mariel Szlifman (Director of Fundación IDA), Fundación IDA: Archiving / Preserving Argentine Design
This lecture presents the mission, goals, and actions of Fundación IDA around the archiving and preservation of national design. IDA is a pioneering institution in the region, established as Argentina’s first design archive. Since 2013, it has been dedicated to the recovery, valorization, preservation, and dissemination of design, both historically and in the present. As a guardian institution, IDA holds a growing archive composed of personal, institutional, and corporate collections from across the country. It engages with key areas of design—industrial, graphic, fashion, and textile—and works to raise awareness about Argentina’s valuable material heritage in the broader framework of cultural asset protection. IDA also promotes the democratization of design knowledge as part of the construction of a national memory. The talk will also detail the foundation’s current strategies, including the development of the online Digital Archive of Argentine Design and the expansion of its institutional network internationally.
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Raúl Naón is co-founder and President of Fundación IDA – Research in Argentine Design. He is an art collector and supporter of various cultural initiatives, particularly in Argentina. For nearly two decades, he served on the Board of Fundación Espigas. Between 2014 and 2016, he was a member of the Latin American and Caribbean Committee (LACF) of MoMA (The Museum of Modern Art, New York).