SADEA Angan /
Virtual Symposium /
July 16 – 17, 2026 /
SADEA Angan / Virtual Symposium / July 16 – 17, 2026 /
Join Angan, the first South Asian design symposium.
Angan is a two-day, virtual symposium centered on South Asian design. The word Angan, drawn from several South Asian languages, refers to an open courtyard or shared central space within a traditional South Asian home. More than an architectural feature, the angan represents a spatial and cultural typology: a place of gathering, exchange, belonging, conversation, and visual dialogue
In this spirit, we invite scholars, educators, students, and practitioners into our own virtual Angan to participate in a double blind peer-reviewed international symposium dedicated to advancing critical scholarship on South Asian design histories, pedagogies, and futures.
The term “South Asia” may appear geographically descriptive, yet it is historically and politically complex. It carries the legacies of postcolonial nation-building, partition, migration, diaspora, informal economies, linguistic plurality, caste and labor hierarchies, and regionally grounded knowledge systems — conditions that continue to shape how design is practiced, taught, circulated, and valued across the region and beyond. In recognition of these entanglements, SADEA joins ongoing efforts to critically examine how South Asia is positioned within global design discourse, while creating space for participants to reflect on and challenge these conditions through both scholarship and practice.
How do postcolonial histories continues to shape design education?
In what ways do migration and diaspora reconfigure authorship, collaboration, and methodology?
How do region-based practices unsettle dominant hierarchies that separate art from craft, or formal design from indigenous and regionally based production?
Key Dates:
Submission Deadline: June 5, 2026, at 11:59 pm (local time zone)
Notification of Acceptance: June 15, 2026 (via email)
Registration Early Bird: June 1, 2026
Registration Continues: June 26, 2026
SADEA Angan Symposium: July 16 – 17, 2026
See the submission details along with the tracks below.
At SADEA’s Angan, we seek to celebrate the diverse contributions South Asians bring to the field of design. The virtual symposium will honor the region’s rich design traditions, materiality, and visual communication cultures. We will also examine how contemporary practices are expanding disciplinary boundaries, and shaping emerging creative cultural economies.
*South Asia includes, but is not limited to Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and diasporic communities worldwide.
TRACKS
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Submissions that explore design within specific geographical, cultural, or social contexts, drawing inspiration from South Asian design histories, languages, materials, and visual cultures. This track emphasizes situated knowledge and how regional practices inform broader design inquiry.
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Submissions that engage research through making, teaching, and experimentation, reflecting South Asian design mindsets, lenses, and cultural perspectives. This includes pedagogical explorations, process-oriented projects, and experimental methodologies that foreground materiality, creativity, and design-in-process approaches.
We welcome short and long papers, and posters (visual essays), from educators, practitioners, researchers and students under two tracks “Place-based Research” and “Practice-based Research”. The symposium will also host a Student Forum presentations, and Portfolio Reviews. All accepted abstracts and selected papers will be published in the Angan Online Journal Publication.
Please submit abstracts via the following Angan Google Form by June 5th, 11:59pm local time, and note that registration opens on June 1st, 2026.
Submission Closed. Thank you!
Register for Angan Symposium
Angan Symposium is open to all.
Join us as we gather to celebrate, share, and advance South Asian design together.
Early Bird Special: June 1 – 25, 2026
Design Professional: $40
Student: $20
CLOSED
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Regular Rate: June 26 – July 17, 2026
Design Professional: $50
Student: $25
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SADEA Student Scholarships
Two students will be selected to receive complimentary registration. Students may apply for this registration fee waiver by submitting a link to their portfolio along with a 200-word statement describing their design intent and how it promotes South Asian cultural heritage. Recipients will be announced as they receive the scholarship and the registration fee waiver.
With gratitude to SADEA Angan symposium supporters:
