Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture (IVS) in collaboration with Kennesaw State University (KSU), Georgia has organised the International Design Conference 2017 from 20 to 23 February. The conference was sponsored by the US State Department under the Higher Education Academic Exchange Partners Programme between the IVS and the KSU.
The theme of the conference was Design Evolution: Education and Practice in Architecture. The topic covered subjects such as communication design and advertising, new media, film, graphic design, illustrations, interior design, textile and fashion design and other related fields in the South/Central Asian cross-cultural context.
Professor Emeritus Shehnaz Ismail said she was privileged to become a part of it, and the mission to reach out to city and country and rest of the world had been fulfilled by this conference. Two days of amazing learning and sharing with experienced and energetic artists, designers felt like a reflection of the fresh perspective of hope of the future. She extended her gratitude to KSU and IVS for holding such event which helped students to have tremendous exposure in the field. She said conference had been a celebration of human imagination acting in the field.
American Council General Grace W Shelton said that the IVS had the most beautiful campus in Pakistan and we were so proud to sponsor this conference.
IVS and KSU had been hosting faculty and student visits for the past 3 years with the inclusion of some sessions for the conference as well. Beyond this collaboration, it was fascinating to see the range of paper topics, from urban design to truck art, cultural preservation, and innovation, she said.
She said, “I’m not an artist but I can recognise the functions utility of the designs with cooperating new technologies with power to explore economic wealth and development. The conference provided opportunities to develop networks which will be productive for future projects in these research areas. I encourage maintaining these connections to continue progress in the same areas,” she added.
IVS Executive Director Samina Raees Khan said, “This conference was a great learning experience for all of us and I am glad that regardless of the current security situation, we all were here for this conference. She added I also acknowledge and appreciate everybody who had contributed to this conference, especially Gulzar Haider, Saima Zaidi, Dr Mehrdad Hadighi, Dr Javed Haider, Prof Talat Haider, Richard Bayon and Grace Shelton.
The IVS has achieved yet another milestone to get close to its vision 2025 as IVS aspires to become one of the leading art and design institute in research and innovation by then.