VCUarts I Lecture Series: Giovanni Innella

Giovanni Innella is a designer, researcher, and curator whose career spans academia, professional practice, and curatorial work. In addition to his creative practice, Giovanni writes and publishes in both academic and non-academic contexts, contributing to critical discourse in design and culture. He has held faculty positions at Chiba University (Japan), Tokyo Metropolitan University, and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Currently, he is an Associate Professor at VCUarts Qatar.

Innella’s lecture, Design and Its Double explores how design can be both a transformative practice and a tool to uncover and understand the world around us. Giovanni examines the duality of design, looking at the relationship between reality and the constructed world of media, and questioning how they shape and influence each other. Inspired by Antonin Artaud’s Theatre and Its Double as a call to break conventions and reveal deeper truths, the presentation shows how design creates tangible artifacts while also challenging cultural norms. By examining these dualities, this presentation highlights how design serves as a lens to reshape perceptions and reveal hidden dimensions of the world around us.

Event URL: https://arts.vcu.edu/event/vcuarts-le...