
Get details to participate in Kusske Design Initiative events such as the bi-weekly Exchange, KDI Lecture & Dialogue, Burst, and Vista on the University of Minnesota's central events calendar.
Exchange
The bi-weekly KDI Exchange invites participants to consider design motivations, disciplines, methods, and solutions through impromptu, collective dialogue. Exchange conversations encourage students, faculty, and staff across the College of Design to get to know one another and build an increasingly interconnected community. Guests from beyond the college also participate, comparing views, values, and vocabularies. Through the dialogue, participants broaden their perspectives on design and find opportunities for collaborative learning and creativity. Typically, multiple conversation partners start an Exchange with provocative statements from their differing perspectives. A rich conversation unfolds as participants chime into the Zoom call, sharing ideas, experiences, and references for further inquiry.
Do you have an idea for a great Exchange topic? Want to co-lead an Exchange session? Submit your suggestions.
Kusske Lecture & Dialogue
The Kusske Lecture & Dialogue Series brings renowned design practitioners and thought leaders to the College of Design to consider humanity’s most pressing issues and generate solutions for a radically changing world.
Previous Speakers
Burst
Each spring, the KDI Burst encourages engagement with diverse creative perspectives through a workshop and colloquium with guest designers.
Past Events
- 2023 | Empathy at Scale - Presented in partnership with the Eames Institute of Infinite Curiosity and featuring National Humanities Medalist and bestselling author Krista Tippett
- 2022 | Materi(e)ality - Curated by Malini Srivastava and organized in partnership with Architecture as Catalyst
- 2021 | The One-Minute City
Vista
Broad-reaching, intermodal exhibits that invite engagement with outcomes of the creative, pluralistic collaborative. These exhibits will manifest both digitally and physically as graphical displays, videos, podcasts, and other designed forms. Vista features creative work produced through cohort collaboration, individual studies and inquiries, faculty and student research, and colloquia and workshops associated with KDI events.