Human Rights MakerLab; Courtesy of DMY International Design Festival
The DMY International Design Festival 2012 is being held in Berlin’s former Templehof Airport from June 6th- June 10th. In its 10th year, the festival is being celebrated with unprecedented enormity– over 700 designers from roughly 30 countries have come to share their ideas, innovations, and hopes for the future. For the first time ever, the exhibitions cover one entire wing, dispersed between four hangars. Though the designers present an eclectic collection of ideas, themes of social and cultural awareness, sustainability, and inspired creativity resonate throughout every product.
The minimalist exhibition “Less,” hosted by the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, exemplifies the utmost priority given to sustainability in modern design. Jan Zbigniew’s “Mushrooms,” which are featured in the aforementioned “Less,” are ecologically friendly lamps, designed completely around this concept, as he uses old packing as the foundation for his product, giving the materials a second purpose.
Another fascinating collection deeply routed in environmental consciousness is the Dutch exhibition “Connecting Concepts,” curated by Ed van Hinte. Much evolved from its original intensions of solely displaying Dutch design, the exhibition has become a traveling conversation, an international forum for the exchange of ideas and products. It highlights the critical need for a global discussion on innovation, trying to expose creative processes and encourage the free flow of knowledge.
The exhibition demonstrates the benefits of such collaboration in its display of “Cycling City Bangalore,” an effort to re-establish cycling in Bangalore, a city suffering under the weight of dramatic increases in motorized transport. In a search for solutions, the Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology in India and Premsela, the Netherlands Institute for Fashion and Design, united efforts and ideas in a July 2011 workshop. As a result of their collective work, various promotional videos, improvements in the city’s parks, several political actions, and the creation of a rescue bike for ambulances, have been set in motion. For the next level of change to occur, the group states that corporations and government officials will need to enter the discussion. For collaboration in design and planning must be realized on all levels.
With its increased diversity in designers and products, this year’s DMY International Design Festival in Berlin promises to further the increasingly significant international exchange of ideas. Walking through Tempelhof’s spacious hangars, amongst the world’s best and brightest innovators and their newest products, one can almost feel a sense of rising optimism in this ever globalized and complex world.
___________________________________________________________________________________
Additional Information
DMY
DMY International Design Festival
Exhibition: Jun. 6 – Jun. 10 , 2012
Opening Hours:
Thursday, June 7th- Saturday, June 9th: 10:00-20h
Sunday, June 10th: 10:00-18:00h
Entrance Fees
Day Ticket: 12 € / reduced 9 €
Combi Ticket DMY + Exhibition of the German design award: 16 € / reduced 12 €
Family Ticket: 20 €
Festival Pass (all days): 60 €
Location
Airport Berlin Tempelhof, Entrance Hangar 2, Columbiadamm 10
(click here for map)
(…and 80+ satellite exhibitions and open studios throughout Berlin!)
___________________________________________________________________________________
Blog entry by Anna C Purcell in Berlin; Friday, Jun. 8, 2012.
