On February 21st, Dr. Harriet Atkinson, University of Brighton, lectured on “‘From The Planning of the Kitchen to the Planning of the Nation’: Exhibiting Homes in Postwar Britain.” Dr. Atkinson is a design historian, who lectures in art and design history, critical and cultural studies. Her research interests stem from how design has been used–and is–used by governments as an object of exchange or diplomacy, a locus for identity-formation and in designers’ work within “official” contexts. Atkinson’s lecture focused on the 1951 Festival of Britain and the way in which the British government used didactic spaces to bolster the image of the nation. The home was considered as the center of British life and as an emotional space, could elicit feelings of pride as the nation was rebuilt post-WWII.

This lecture was presented as a part of the Inside (hi)STORIES lecture series which explores the histories and theories of the modern interior and is hosted jointly by the School of Constructed Environments and and the School of Art & Design History and Theory at Parsons School of Design.

Click here to watch the lecture.