Lecturer
Dr Livia Lazzaro Rezende
2020 – 2021 Senior Fellowship | Advance Higher Education Academy, UK
2019 – 2020 Postgraduate Certificate in Creative Eduation | Royal College of Art, London
2006 – 2010 PhD in History of Design | Royal College of Art / V&A Museum, London
2001 – 2003 MA in History of Graphic Design | Pontifícia Universidade Católica, Brazil
1994 – 1997 Bachelor’s Degree in Design |College of Industrial Design, Rio, Brazil
Arts,Design & Architecture
School of Art & Design
Livia Rezende supervises, researches and teaches in Design History and Theory, and is the School of Art & Design Coordinator of Higher Degree Research.
Dr Rezende has straddled design practice and historical research for nearly twenty years, having worked as a graphic designer for national companies and large corporations; the heritage and creative economy sectors, and the print industries while advancing academic research in Design History and Theory. She joined UNSW Arts, Design & Architecture in 2019 to form a new team and establish learning, teaching and research in Design History and Theory.
She has convened workshops on development, sustainability, and open source making. Through cross-cultural partnerships and public engagement, Dr Rezende has helped advance new research agendas like ‘Environmental Histories of Design’ (Germany and Norway, 2015-17), ‘Design and Uncertainty in the Global Present’ (India and UK, 2013-14), and furthered widening participation, social inclusion and academic exchange.
After receiving her PhD from the Victoria & Albert Museum / Royal College of Art History of Design programme (London, UK), Dr Rezende was awarded a Junior Postdoctoral Fellowship from the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) in 2012 to undertake research on the 1922 Independence Centennial International Exhibition in Rio de Janeiro. This followed her doctoral thesis ‘The raw and the manufactured: Brazilian modernity and national identity as projected in International Exhibitions (1862–1922)’, where she discussed national representation through designed artefacts, the management of raw materials and conceptualisations of nature in International Exhibitions and World’s Fairs.
In 2013, she joined the Royal College of Art as Tutor (Research) in History of Design. In 2012, Dr Rezende was awarded a Visiting Professorship by the Rio de Janeiro State University to teach design historical-informed courses at the College of Industrial Design (ESDI). Dr Rezende was Academic Coordinator for the Istituto Europeo di Design, where she managed course leaders and led interdisciplinary ‘Creative Laboratory’ projects in Sustainable and Strategic Design, among others. As the Design History Society’s Treasurer (2013-16), Dr Rezende helped organize events and conferences in the UK, Ireland, Norway, India and the US, and reviewed award applications. She serves as a peer reviewer and scientific and programme committee member for various academic journals and conferences.
E-mail
Location
Office F218A
UNSW Arts, Design & Architecture
Oxford St & Greens Rd
Paddington, Sydney
NSW 2021
Australia
- Publications
- Media
- Grants
- Awards
- Research Activities
- Engagement
- Teaching and Supervision
Dr Rezende holds a two-year Faculty Research Fellowship, UNSW Arts, Design & Architecture
• Best written work, Design Writing Prize, Design History Society (2020)
• UNSW Dean's Award for Research Excellence (2020)
• Development through the Creative Economy in China, Arts & Humanities Research Council UK (2017)
• Royal College of Art Research Development Fund (2015)
• Royal College of Art, School of Humanities Academic Staff Study Support Fund (2014)
• Visiting Professorship, Rio de Janeiro State University, Brazil (2013)
• Junior Postdoctoral Scholarship, Brazilian Council for Scientific and Technological Development (2012)
• Full doctoral award, CAPES Foundation of Brazil (2007-10)
• Best Written Work, Museu da Casa Brasileira, Brazil (2005)
Dr Rezende has been spearheading the study of Latin American design history outside the region. She has co-convened conference panels in the UK and US and has recently co-edited a Special Issue of the Journal of Design History on ‘Locating Design Exchanges in Latin America and the Caribbean’ to consolidate her global critique of modern design as a political tool for development from a decolonial perspective.
She is the co-founder of OPEN, a collaborative inernational research initiative that draws on decolonial methods to explore how our world views translate. Through events, exhibitions and the curation of the web-based exhibition Emotional Practices, OPEN invites people to (re)think individual positions in terms of diversity and difference of experience, to enhance awareness to cultural identity, difference and lived experience. OPEN’s aim is develop art and design practices with transformational capabilities that are inclusive of emotional work, self-care, respect and positionality.
Dr Rezende’s interests and methods have been informed by material and visual culture methods of analysis, studies of nationalism, sociology of translation, anthropology, and gender theory. She has expertise on nineteenth- and twentieth-century industrial and communication design, including the development of printing technologies, and the global production of images of modernity.
Her current book project discusses divergent projects for design fought at the International Design Biennials held in Brazil in the late 1960s amidst a brutal military dictatorship.
My Teaching
At UNSW Arts, Design and Architecture, Dr Rezende convenes, lectures and teaches into postgraduate and core undergraduate courses in Design History and Theory, including:
- National Design Histories (DDES1200)
- Global Design Debates (DDES1201)
- Positions in Design (DDES2200)
- The Making of DEsign Cultures (DDES3200)
- Design History and Theory I, MDes (SAHT9143)