and reliant on the mobility of ideas and artists across the EU. It’s hard to measure what the benefits of that openness are for us as cultural practitioners. Roberto We’re the people who don’t need convincing. I think it’s about making people understand how much of their identity is the culture we all share. We need to really understand who we are, because it’s no longer just a case of being a Brit or being a Spaniard. I’m a Spaniard, but that means that I am also a European. I’m also half American because of my television culture! Your culture is no longer this thing that is just there, ready-formed. Ab If there’s anything that we have to learn, it’s to take things seriously. With Donald Trump, everyone said, “It’s not serious, don’t worry.” With Berlusconi, everyone told us “Don’t worry, he’s not serious; he’ll be gone in six months.” We’re so slow to react because we take everything for granted. We work in a little paradise in London, hanging out having interesting conversations about how design is going to make the world better, how art and culture make the world better. But beyond that there are a lot of really scary stances that are all about closing borders. Jana I have been really surprised by how quiet this debate has been in design and architecture circles. I think that no one took it seriously at the beginning. It’s only now that engagement is increasing since the polls show results of 50/50. At the Salone in Milan this year most non-British people said, “Oh come on, that won’t happen.” But the design world is tiny in relation to the whole population and despite recognising the danger of the current situation, engagement within design practice seems limited compared with the involvement in the migration crisis, which saw a huge variety of mainly solution-driven projects. The issues around the EU seem tricky and somehow too conceptual. But if we’re talking about design thinking, speculation and systems that we want to invent, then why is no designer taking that on? Roberto If you look at universities right now, the only funding is EU funding. Britain contributes to that, but British government funding is practically nothing. The other day a guy was arguing with me about this. He said, “Well, you don’t need to be in the EU to access those grants.” OK, fine, but there still needs to be an EU in order to create those grants, so again you return to this idea of solidarity: it shouldn’t be a case of getting out while there’s trouble, but still benefitting from everything that remains. E N D
Roundtable
Kathrin Böhm, artist and co-founder of Public Works, Myvillages and the remain campaign EU-UK.info. Böhm is European and has lived in the UK since 1997. Oscar Diaz, designer and founder of Oscar Diaz Studio. Diaz is Spanish and has lived in the UK since 2004. Roberto Feo, designer and co-founder of El Ultimo Grito, and professor of design at Goldsmiths, University of London. Feo was born in London but moved to Spain as a child, before returning to the UK in 1989. Julia Lohmann, professor in design at the University of Fine Arts, Hamburg. Lohmann is German and came to the UK in 1998. She has lived between the UK and Germany since 2011. Tetsuo Mukai, designer and co-founder of Study O Portable. Mukai is Japanese and has lived in the UK since 2008. Ab Rogers, architect and founder of Ab Rogers Design, and a visiting professor at the Royal College of Art. Rogers is British and lives in the UK. Jana Scholze, curator and associate professor at Kingston University. Scholze is German and has lived in the UK since 2002. Sarah van Gameren, designer and co-founder of Glithero. Van Gameren is Dutch and has lived in the UK since 2005. This roundtable was chaired by Johanna Agerman Ross and took place in Disegno’s offices. in London in May 2016.