Join the first
South Asian design symposium Angan

‘Angan’ refers to the courtyard — a spatial and cultural typology that functions as a site of gathering, exchange, belonging, and visual dialogue. It is a central space produced relationally through the plurality and diversity of its surrounding contexts.

We invite scholars, educators, students and practitioners to participate in this peer-reviewed international symposium dedicated to advancing critical scholarship grounded in South Asian design histories, pedagogies and futures.

The term South Asia is geographically descriptive, yet politically and historically complex. It carries the weight of postcolonial nation-building, partition, migration, diaspora, informal economies, linguistic plurality, caste and labor hierarchies, and regional based knowledge systems. SADEA joins the ongoing endeavor to critically question how South Asia is positioned within global design discourse by inviting participants to reflect on and challenge these themes through scholarship and practice.

How do postcolonial histories 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:

Submissions deadline: May 30, 2026, at 11:59 pm (submitter’s local time zone)

Notifications of Acceptance:‍ ‍June 15, 2026 (via email)

Registration Early bird: June 1, 2026

Registration Continues: June 20, 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 symposium will honor the region’s rich design traditions, materiality, and visual communication cultures while also examining 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

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.
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.

Submissions for Angan Symposium 2026 includes short and long papers, posters (visual essays), from educators, practitioners, researchers and students. The symposium will host graduate student forum presentations, and portfolio reviews. All accepted abstracts and selected papers will be published in the Online Journal Publication.

Please submit abstracts via the Angan Google Form, and note that registration opens on June 1st, 2026.

SUBMIT ABSTRACT

Registration will open on June 1st.

Early bird special:

Design professional: $40

Student: $20

After June 20, 2026:

Design professional: $50

Student: $25

Students may apply for a 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. Two students will be selected to receive complimentary registration. Recipients will be announced as they are awarded the scholarship and fee waiver.