Dutch Design Week announces 2015 theme: ‘What if...

Dutch Design Week announces 2015 theme: ‘What if...

‘What if...’ is the theme for Dutch Design Week (DDW) 2015. With this theme, the organisation celebrates and highlights designers’ power of imagination. Their best responses will be on show during the 14th edition (from 17 to 25 October) in the form of concepts and products, experiments and cross-overs. The campaign to support the theme is facilitated in cooperation with the design agency Fabrique. The first programme sections will be online this week.

Power to the imagination

DDW sees ‘What if...’ as the ultimate question from which creativity and innovation starts. Designers realise the most varied forms of innovation by looking at what exists from a different angle, by not being satisfied with the status quo, and by continuing to look for alternative answers and solutions.

Martijn Paulen, DDW director: ‘Posing the right questions is the motor for the imagination. Designers think about how we will live and live together in the future. They dare to question everything, dream of a different answer and shape it. This is how they lay the basis for the innovations of the future.’

Preview

This year, the organisation is expecting 2400 participants, who will present their latest work spread across 80 locations. The complete programme will be known in September; a preview is already online. Among the highlights are regulars such as the Design Academy’s Graduation Show, the presentation of the annual Dutch Design Awards, the presentation by Dutch Invertuals and the exhibitions in the Klokgebouw (art directors Guus Kusters and Maarten Kolk). Amongst these the Volvo Design Challenge, with young designers (Borre Akkersdijk, Lilian van Daal, Brit van Nerven, Bob Schiller and Jólan van der Wiel) responding to the rapid technological developments of the car and our perception of this in the future. The exhibition ‘Mind the Step’ (by the Eindhoven, Delft and Twente universities of technology) shows design and technology of the future.

Other creative hot spots and initiatives that contribute to the programme with (inter)national exhibitions can be found at Hallenweg, Material Sense, MU, Piet Hein Eek, Sectie C, TAC, Yksi and Kazerne.

New this year

The new label by TextielMuseum bundles the TextielMuseum’s collection and the TextielLab’s craftsmanship, and presents itself during DDW under the art directorship of Jongeriuslab. At Broeinest, Baars & Bloemhof present various collaboratives between industry and the creative sector, with work from De Inituïtiefabriek, Lex Pott, OS Δ OOS and Studio Mieke Meijer. The exhibition ‘Thing Nothing’ at Van Abbemuseum (curated by Thomas Widdershoven, Jan Konings, Ina Hollmann and Agata Jaworska) shows the role of design in a dematerialising world.

The festival feel is reinforced this year by the introduction of DDW Music, a collaboration between DDW, the Effenaar and booking agency Friendly Fire. During the week, there will be live performances at various venues around town, free for anyone with a DDW go-as-you-please ticket. Separate tickets will be available for the DDW Music Specials in the Effenaar and the Muziekgebouw.

The fourteenth Dutch Design Week will take place from Saturday 17 to Sunday 25 October in Eindhoven (the Netherlands). Visit www.ddw.nl for more information and the programme. Or follow DDW Facebook, Instagram and Twitter (#DDW15).