How will future designers work, and how does Danish design address global issues such as sustainability, new technology and consumption?
The exhibition it’s a small world challenges the Danish design tradition and explores future design practices in a global perspective.
it’s a small world has been developed in a collaboration involving the Danish Design Centre, Danish Crafts and the Danish Architecture Centre based on an initiative from the Danish Ministry of Economic and Business Affairs and the Danish Ministry of Culture. it’s a small world is an international travelling exhibition that will be launched during the Copenhagen Design Week.
The exhibition will travel internationally throughout 2010/2011 and is on display at the Danish Design Centre from 28 August 2009 until late January 2010.
Denmark as a creative nation
Denmark has a long-standing tradition as a leading design nation. With the exhibitionit’s a small world the organisers wish to present and highlight the new Danish design competencies and showcase Denmark as a society with a creative and politically conscious design environment. A society where universal design issues are on the social and, not least, the cultural agenda.
“Danish design, craft and architecture are founded in a strong design tradition and are currently undergoing tremendous development. In the exhibition it’s a small world, which is to be presented to an international audience, the Danish Design Centre, Danish Crafts and the Danish Architecture Centre demonstrate the contributions that new design, craft and architecture can make to a global debate on sustainability”, says Ms. Lene Espersen, the Danish Minister for Economic and Business Affairs.
Individual demands and global responsibility
it’s a small world examines the role of design as problem-solver in a world filled with surplus production and an endless supply of products. Global challenges such as sustainability and, not least, the growing demand for individual, non-standardised solutions make both specialisation and flexibility key concerns at every stage of the design process. The interaction between individual preferences and global needs is the background for the debate that the exhibition raises.
Six scenarios
We’re so normal, I’m so special and It’s Your turn are the titles of three of the six scenarios that fuse design, craft and architecture into one in an interdisciplinary dialogue that takes place in an exhibition design consisting of iceberg-like structures.
Based in new works and new design processes, the exhibition features examples of New Craftsmanship and non-standardised practices, which are redefinitions of the classic design tools that have been replaced by process competencies and a rediscovery of craft techniques and traditions in a contemporary context.
The audience is invited to get involved in the scenarios, and among other experiences the exhibitions offers a view of the world through a child’s eyes from the transport box of a Christiania bike or experience Henrik Vibskov’s carwash. The audience is encouraged to join a dialogue about the design of future cities and sustainable homes and invited to try out a sustainable sofa for the entire family.
The exhibition has been curated by:
Danish Design Centre, Architect/Designer maa/mdd Tina Midtgaard (project manager)
Danish Crafts, Architect Karen Kjærgaard
Danish Architecture Centre, Architect maa Kjersti Wikstrøm
