'We found strength in adversity' – Dutch Design Week 2020
Between 15 and 27 October, it was that time again: Dutch Design Week. This year, ArtEZ was supposed to be represented by both art education and research presenting projects related to the theme of The New Intimacy.
Anne Hendriks, project coordinator, set about organising the physical exhibition.
“We started planning for an exhibition during DDW with internal partners before the summer. Our focus was on a physical exhibition”, Anne explains, “with a digital platform behind it. The physical experience of objects and research results is important. With the theme in mind, Eric de Leeuw (Head of BA IN_Architecture) and Jesse van Lienen (Lecturer BA IN_Architecture) made a beautiful design.”
Until...
From physical to online exhibition
“On 30 September, I got a call from the exhibition organisers and my ArtEZ colleague Jorn Konijn. On the advice of the regional security authority, the mayor of Eindhoven had decided not to issue a permit for Dutch Design Week after all. Although this scenario had always been a possibility, the news still came as a blow. After e-mailing all the ArtEZ members of staff and designers involved, I started looking into the best way for us to present ourselves online."
Creating the fabric from several frayed edges – Project going circular going cellulose
Big reach and still available to visit
The New Intimacy revolves around intimacy, around our relationship with the other, with the space and with objects around us "How do you relate to something that isn’t physical? That's a huge challenge. The fact that we were able to set up 3D virtual spaces on the DDW website did help. This allowed visitors to move through a virtual space and view the works. Of course that’s not the same as experiencing a physical exhibition and you do miss out on networking opportunities, but the big advantage is that people from all over the world were able to visit our exhibition from their homes – and they still can, via the link: https://ddw.nl/nl/programma/3807/the-new-intimacy-bodies-objects-and-spaces. Which means it doesn't all end after a week. That's how we found strength in adversity."
ArtEZ and Dutch Design Week 2020
From 17 to 25 October, ArtEZ presented itself (digitally) at Dutch Design Week. Linking in with the theme of 'The New Intimacy' and a society struggling with Covid-19, ArtEZ exhibited the results of an educational and research programme on the changing intimate relationships between bodies, objects and spaces. Relationships that can make people vulnerable or stronger. For the first time, education and research presented themselves jointly with six projects in collaboration with alumni designers who interpreted the theme. More information about ArtEZ and Dutch Design Week.
Looking to the future
This exhibition is a first step towards a more enduring collaboration between research and education within ArtEZ. "We can now take this further, for example in joint research and other projects. We can look back on a very successful virtual exhibition with over 2000 visitors, but we still hope to be able to present together physically again next year."
