Alex J. Todd
About ︎
Dr. Alex J. Todd is a historian of art and design, focusing in particular on their role in forms of social and political resistance. Alex teaches in the History of Art & Design department at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York.
Alex received his PhD in the History of Art and Design from the University of Brighton, UK, where he completed a thesis entitled “Operative Autonomy: Wild Plakken and Political Practice in 1980s Amsterdam”.
He is also the Student Officer for the Design History Society and co-lead of the Design Activism strand of the Centre for Design History at the University of Brighton, UK.
Current Projects ︎
Alex is currently working on a book manuscript, tentatively entitled “The Autonomous Imagination: Graphic Design and Political Activism in the Long 1980s”, examining the significance of autonomy in conceptions of politically-engaged graphic design practice between c.1975 and 1995.
This project is the first sustained study of graphic design and the politics of autonomy in these decades and addresses the shifting ideological and organisational concerns of politically-oriented graphic designers in Europe in the midst of the neoliberal transition.
Alex has held curatorial roles at the Design Museum in London and has taught in universities in both the UK and the US. His writing can be found in places such as the Journal for Design History, Eye, History Today, and Bloomsbury Design Library.
An up-to-date CV can be provided upon request.
︎ atodd7@pratt.edu