DEATHxDESIGNxCULTURE
2024
UK | International
Moth is pleased to announce from 4-6 September, the Department of Graphic Design, Falmouth University (UK), and the Death and Culture Network, University of York (UK); in partnership with the Stamps School of Art & Design, University of Michigan (USA), and the Glasgow End of Life Studies Group, University of Glasgow (UK) are hosting the DEATHxDESIGNxCULTURE: RADICAL RE-IMAGININGS FOR THE END OF LIFE conference.The conference seeks to open discursive space for ‘traditional’ as well as practice-based and practice-led research to critically reflect on the role of design as it relates to death, dying, and disposal at individual, community, and broader cultural levels, and to suggest radical alternatives for the future.
With a focus on interdisciplinarity, the conference aims to support knowledge exchange between researchers within the social sciences, the humanities, and design. Design is positioned as an expanded field inviting contributions from subject areas including, but not limited to: graphic design; multidisciplinary design; architecture; digital design; fashion design; and product design.
A multi-modal approach will stretch the conventions of a conference format, incorporating experience design; exhibitions and pedagogic interventions; university-industry knowledge transfer; and opportunities for traditional academic papers.
OPEN CALL for submissions which communicate both personal grief as well as collective solidarity and empathy in our social-cultural relationships.
Download the full brief here
To contribute please email a vector EPS graphic (100mm square x 1-colour [black]) + credit to moth@falmouth.ac.uk by 31 May 2024.
DEATHxDESIGNxCULTURE
2024
UK | International
The Death x Design x Culture: Radical Re-Imaginings for the End of Life conference [Falmouth University (UK); University of Glasgow (UK); University of York (UK); University of Michigan (USA)], are pleased to announce a partnership with .able journal for the development of selected conference papers into visual essays for peer-review and publication.
With its shared focus on practice-based research at the intersections of art, design, and the sciences, the image-based journal .able is an ideal publishing partner for the multi-modal ambitions of the conference. Initiated by La Chaire Arts & Sciences (2017-2023) of the École Polytechnique, the École des Arts Décoratifs – PSL, and the Fondation Daniel and Nina Carasso, .able is open-access, peer-reviewed, and supported by some thirty international academic partners.
Working with the Department of Graphic Design at Falmouth, selected conference papers will be developed into image-based contributions based on one of .able journal’s 5 visual essay formats for submission and review post-conference.
For more information including conference themes and submission deadlines, please visit our website: https://deathxdesignxculture.info/
With its shared focus on practice-based research at the intersections of art, design, and the sciences, the image-based journal .able is an ideal publishing partner for the multi-modal ambitions of the conference. Initiated by La Chaire Arts & Sciences (2017-2023) of the École Polytechnique, the École des Arts Décoratifs – PSL, and the Fondation Daniel and Nina Carasso, .able is open-access, peer-reviewed, and supported by some thirty international academic partners.
Working with the Department of Graphic Design at Falmouth, selected conference papers will be developed into image-based contributions based on one of .able journal’s 5 visual essay formats for submission and review post-conference.
For more information including conference themes and submission deadlines, please visit our website: https://deathxdesignxculture.info/
The Pet Loss Network (PLN)
2021-2023
UK | International
MOTH has been a network partner, with The Pet Loss Network (PLN) since 2021. An international network of practitioners, professionals and researchers invested in issues of pet death and loss.
Towards the end of 2022, MOTH was pleased to be invited to design the visual identity for the network, a number of design proposals were developed and presented to the PLN members at the beginning of 2023. The final PLN logo has now been chosen and is being integrated into the website and other touchpoints.
The Pet Loss Network (PLN) is co-ordinated by Dr. Julie-Marie Strange, Professor of Modern British History at Durham University and Diane James the Blue Cross Pet Bereavement Support Service Manager.
The PLN aims to:
• Facilitate dialogue between researchers & practitioners concerned with animal end of life and those addressing the human impact of pet loss.
• Develop pilot research among key stakeholders – pet owners and vets in the first instance – to identify how existing (and future) research might be most impactful in improving pet owner experience.
• Generate a working paper identifying steps to measurably improve the experience of pet loss for pet owners.
• Strengthen the network by facilitating sustained and long-term engagement with a view to identifying external funding opportunities to develop new collaborative research on improving pet owner experience at animal end of life.
![]()
Towards the end of 2022, MOTH was pleased to be invited to design the visual identity for the network, a number of design proposals were developed and presented to the PLN members at the beginning of 2023. The final PLN logo has now been chosen and is being integrated into the website and other touchpoints.
The Pet Loss Network (PLN) is co-ordinated by Dr. Julie-Marie Strange, Professor of Modern British History at Durham University and Diane James the Blue Cross Pet Bereavement Support Service Manager.
The PLN aims to:
• Facilitate dialogue between researchers & practitioners concerned with animal end of life and those addressing the human impact of pet loss.
• Develop pilot research among key stakeholders – pet owners and vets in the first instance – to identify how existing (and future) research might be most impactful in improving pet owner experience.
• Generate a working paper identifying steps to measurably improve the experience of pet loss for pet owners.
• Strengthen the network by facilitating sustained and long-term engagement with a view to identifying external funding opportunities to develop new collaborative research on improving pet owner experience at animal end of life.
The Death & Culture Network (DaCNet)
Sept 2022
University of York, St John University
MOTH delivered a conference paper | The Life & Death of ‘STUFF’
at The Death & Culture Network (DaCNet) University of York, St John University, International Biennial Conference.
In a visually saturated world, consumed at speed alongside a superabundance of objects and brands, our lives and the clutter we create can be overwhelming. Some objects are valueless - until they are rediscovered and transformed into a durable and wanted items. Others have no value, save for their meaningful and personal relationship to a person, place, or thing - determining provenance. Design imbues meaning and myth, assumptions, and values, it mediates how we interact with the world. All the objects we design/make/use are charged with political significance; they impact the world with consequences and culpabilities.
‘Our significant objects’ remind us of the narratives of our lived materiality - meaning, transition, connectivity with loves and losses, hopes and dreams. To have and to hold is essentially human. The cultural philosopher, Marshall McLuhan, talks of our fundamental need to find meaning, we need to make sense of the world, in order, to survive.
Functional or technical obsolescence is a familiar concept, but we know less about emotional obsolescence: the emotional and material factors which influence what we decide to keep or discard. Our objects and possessions can reveal much about ourselves, they may outlive us, and it begs the question, of what happens to them beyond our lifetime?
![]()
at The Death & Culture Network (DaCNet) University of York, St John University, International Biennial Conference.
In a visually saturated world, consumed at speed alongside a superabundance of objects and brands, our lives and the clutter we create can be overwhelming. Some objects are valueless - until they are rediscovered and transformed into a durable and wanted items. Others have no value, save for their meaningful and personal relationship to a person, place, or thing - determining provenance. Design imbues meaning and myth, assumptions, and values, it mediates how we interact with the world. All the objects we design/make/use are charged with political significance; they impact the world with consequences and culpabilities.
‘Our significant objects’ remind us of the narratives of our lived materiality - meaning, transition, connectivity with loves and losses, hopes and dreams. To have and to hold is essentially human. The cultural philosopher, Marshall McLuhan, talks of our fundamental need to find meaning, we need to make sense of the world, in order, to survive.
Functional or technical obsolescence is a familiar concept, but we know less about emotional obsolescence: the emotional and material factors which influence what we decide to keep or discard. Our objects and possessions can reveal much about ourselves, they may outlive us, and it begs the question, of what happens to them beyond our lifetime?
Dust Ltd.
9 July - 27 August 2022
Penzance
An Extra Place at the Table - Exhibition & Shop
Moth is so excited to announce, they are working with Lucy Willow from DUST @d.u.s.t_art, together they have set up an installation 'An Extra Place at The Table' in the Dust Shop / Exhibition space.
MOTH SHOP | Design for Life & Death
Moth passionately believe that design can help us to navigate how we approach, end of life, grief and loss.
We hope that the exhibition will invite visitors to feel free to talk about who they lay an extra place at the table for and to normalise conversations about death and grief. There will also be a shop full of death and grief related zines, objects and products for sale.
9 JULY - 27 AUGUST
DUST
4-5 ALBERT BUILDINGS
PENZANCE
TR182DB
https://www.dustltd.art/
![]()
Moth is so excited to announce, they are working with Lucy Willow from DUST @d.u.s.t_art, together they have set up an installation 'An Extra Place at The Table' in the Dust Shop / Exhibition space.
MOTH SHOP | Design for Life & Death
Moth passionately believe that design can help us to navigate how we approach, end of life, grief and loss.
We hope that the exhibition will invite visitors to feel free to talk about who they lay an extra place at the table for and to normalise conversations about death and grief. There will also be a shop full of death and grief related zines, objects and products for sale.
9 JULY - 27 AUGUST
DUST
4-5 ALBERT BUILDINGS
PENZANCE
TR182DB
https://www.dustltd.art/
Exeter Festival of Compassion.
26 November 2021
Falmouth
MOTH is delivering a half day workshop as part of the Exeter Festival of Compassion.
MOTH invites you to consider Symbols of Death. Memento Mori images – reminding us to live life well – and to contemplate our relationship with death and what might happen to us, when the one inevitable event we plan for the least comes to visit? To start some (difficult, but) important conversations with those you love.
Date and time
Fri, 26 November 2021
10:00 – 13:00 GMT
Location
Falmouth University - Falmouth Campus
Lecture Theatre 2
Open to all.
Registration - Eventbrite
![]()
MOTH invites you to consider Symbols of Death. Memento Mori images – reminding us to live life well – and to contemplate our relationship with death and what might happen to us, when the one inevitable event we plan for the least comes to visit? To start some (difficult, but) important conversations with those you love.
Date and time
Fri, 26 November 2021
10:00 – 13:00 GMT
Location
Falmouth University - Falmouth Campus
Lecture Theatre 2
Open to all.
Registration - Eventbrite
Museum of the Home
19 September 2021 & 10 October 2021
London
We're very pleased to be collaborating with the Blue Cross at the Pet Bereavement Café event, which will be taking place at the Museum of the Home in the heart of Hoxton, East London. Dates: Sunday 19 September & Sunday 10 October
Moth has contributed our story/advice booklet, ‘Saying Goodbye to Mr Jim’ which is an aid to help children and adults cope with bereavement. We have produced an A3 Pet Mausoleum image for children to colour in, especially for this event, which encourages people to reflect, discuss or reminisce about a beloved pet.
![]()
Moth has contributed our story/advice booklet, ‘Saying Goodbye to Mr Jim’ which is an aid to help children and adults cope with bereavement. We have produced an A3 Pet Mausoleum image for children to colour in, especially for this event, which encourages people to reflect, discuss or reminisce about a beloved pet.
