Dr Chetan Shastri
Teaching and Research
RMIT
Chetan Shastri is a design historian and a design consultant.
During his early career, Chetan worked in India and London, on commercial projects as an exhibition, visual, retail, and wayfinding designer. Following an MA in History of Design from the Royal College of Art and for a few years before coming to Melbourne, Chetan was teaching design.
He continues to teach design part-time at RMIT University and has recently completed his creative practice-based PhD. Chetan’s PhD started in 2019 and was examined in October 2023. His research practice sought to support better experiences at end-of-life. As part of his PhD Chetan constructed two projects, one at Alfred Hospital and the other at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne. The project at Alfred Hospital resulted in the development of the Bioscope which is an embroidered cartography of death and a tool to facilitate conversations about end-of-life. The Bioscope has been announced as a finalist for the Victorian Premier’s Design Award (2023).
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Linkedin Profile https://www.linkedin.com/in/chetan-shastri-25747718/
Program sessions
Design for death and dying
Can design transcend its traditional boundaries to facilitate conversations about end-of-life, and how can co-design demystify death and enrich the human experience?
Death is one of three major life events; therefore, it is essential to plan and prepare for it. Death is also a taboo subject and talking about death can be challenging. However, it is important to do so. Talking about it can enable us to live authentically, help confront our own mortality, and inspire compassion towards others.
Chetan Shastri’s Bioscope Project investigates what design can do, on the topic of death inside the hospital. The Bioscope is an embroidered cartography of death and a tool to facilitate conversations about end-of-life. The Bioscope was developed through codesign enabled conversations about death with palliative care practitioners. The Bioscope socialises and restyles a banal death into something that is aesthetic and approachable. Engaging with the Bioscope can transform your understanding of death.