The London Design Biennale showcases some of the world’s most exciting designers, innovators and curators to demonstrate how design impacts every aspect of our lives. This year’s Biennale at Somerset House explores important political, social and environmental issues, with the pavilions providing a place where visitors can engage with these subjects in a fun and interactive way. The theme ‘Emotional States’ encourages artists to examine the global and political shift towards understanding a country’s overall happiness and well-being. At a time when there is now a Gross National Happiness Index, the United Arab Emirates has a Minister for Happiness, Venezuela elected a Vice Minister of Supreme Social Happiness and Theresa May appointed a Minister for Loneliness, exploring emotion has never been so timely. Ideally, you need a full day to explore all 37 pavilions at the Biennale. For those with limited time, I’ve highlighted the most exhilarating ‘must-see’ exhibitions. Greece: ‘Disobedience’ Set in the forecourt at Somerset House, visitors are invited to walk through the walls of this 17-metre-long kinetic structure. As you take your first step, the floor moves down and the walls expand out like a skeleton breathing. The shock of this makes you either hurry through, relieved to come through the other side, or inspires an excitement and curiosity where viewers would lean into the sides of the wall and look in wonder at the structure. To further bring the structure to life, there will be dance performances that will run throughout the Biennale. Puerto Rico: ‘Soft Identity Makers’ This dynamic exhibition explored the concepts of nation and identity, which is particularly interesting in Puerto Rico where residents are American citizens but don’t have voting rights. Visitors are invited to select five images of different textures, colours, flavours, sounds and attitudes, which are translated into symbols through a specially designed algorithm to create a unique identity, which gets printed onto a T-shirt that you can keep – brilliant! Saudi Arabia: ‘Being and Existence’ This beautiful meditative exhibition uses mirrors and slow-moving circular, mandala-like images to create a sense of infinity. As you look closer, you notice the circles are comprised of a complex series of white light symbols. These symbols or ‘codes’ are based on Arabic calligraphy and Islamic geometry and use the Vedic Square – the hidden language of creation – to create the symbols. Dundee: ‘Shpeel’ As you walk into a darkened room, you become immersed in a techni-colour light show, with light cast onto the walls and loud music playing in the background. In the centre of the exhibition is the ‘avatar’ that lets you control the colours and lights by pressing different buttons. You soon learn that the buttons relate to different emotions with which you can explore and interact with other visitors. This clever piece of design has been developed to help young people explore their emotions when language can be prohibitive. USA: ‘Face Values’ This interactive exhibition looks at alternative uses of facial recognition technology, typically used for security and behavioural profiling. Visitors are invited to sit in front of a camera and asked to express an emotion and hold it for 30 seconds. The computer then creates a profile detailing your age, ethnic background and how successful you were in creating that emotion. All images taken during the exhibition will be archived throughout the duration of the Biennale. Israel: ‘Exposed Nerves’ Here visitors will find a live rapid response design studio, with an artist, architect and designer working towards a different design brief each week. This is just a snap shot of the wonderful exhibitions on offer for all to enjoy. With only two weeks to go, ensure that you make the time to visit this fabulous creative event.
The details The London Design Biennale is on at Somerset House from now until 23 September 2018. http://www.londondesignbiennale.com Elinor Seath
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Brixton Design Trail returns for its second year as a London Design Festival District with a theme of Love is Power, communicating the positive force of love in celebrating difference and promoting acceptance.
The aim is to design by community and collaboration to ensure Brixton’s creative spirit is kept alive during the natural process of regeneration in town centres. Brixton will showcase an exciting line up of local designers from a range of backgrounds, highlighting that our community is made up of many cultures living alongside each other with respect for diversity and an appreciation of many shared values – it is this mix that is the essence of Brixton. Once again Brixton Design Trail will champion the democratisation of design by establishing it as part of the everyday and accessible to everyone, using streets and public spaces as a canvas for expression. In partnership with the Brixton BID and supported by Lambeth, a number of installations will bring permanent improvements to public spaces, putting creativity at the heart of the areas regeneration. In addition to installations and design showcases, a series of talks and tours will focus on Brixton’s evolving design heritage from street art and murals to loved landmarks and unusual spaces. For more information, visit: www.brixtondesigntrail.com. London Design Festival celebrates and promotes London as the design capital of the world. Now in its 15th year, the Festival will be returning to venues and institutions across the city from now until the 24 September 2017. A major feature of the Festival is an ambitious programme of over 450 projects and events, offering Londoners and visitors to the city an opportunity to experience world-class, innovative, and challenging design across the capital.
Key exhibitions to see at The London Design Festival... Set in Stone The Design Museum, which opened the doors to its new home in Kensington in November 2016, presents an exciting project during this year’s London Design Festival. Set in Stone presents a selection of works by eight designers invited to explore the potential of marble and limestone. These works, displayed in various locations both inside and outside the museum, include objects intended for public use, such as seating by Eduardo Souto de Moura; a slide by Elemental; graphic pieces by Sagmeister & Walsh; and a series of domestic objects by Michael Anastassiades and Jasper Morrison. The project is an investigation of the qualities of stone, and the technical means through which it is cut and shaped. The natural formation of stone over millions of years produces patterns and textures that are unique and unrepeatable. The designers’ responses represent small moments of monumentality that reflect the solidity and permanence of an elemental material. Drop in the Ocean Designer, Brodie Neill, presents ‘Drop in the Ocean’ at ME London, a mesmerising site specific nature-driven installation, located in The Atrium of the iconic Foster + Partners designed hotel, the Official Hotel Partner for the Festival. ME London, is the flagship property for the ME by Melia brand, located in the cultural heart of Covent Garden. Neill’s presentation premieres his work Flotsam, produced using his self-created material Ocean Terrazzo which Neill developed for the Australian Pavilion for the 2016 London Design Biennale, and confronts the problem of the world’s plastic waste within our oceans. Cast completely as singular pieces, the Flotsam collection is created from a combination of all-white Ocean Terrazzo to reflect water and multicoloured ocean plastic fragments to reference the floating nature of the plastic waste which travels across oceans and break down into small fragments from the force of the currents, meanwhile the single drop seen in the melodic installation symbolises the smallest essence of nature resulting in momentous consequences. The Leontia Gallery is renowned for its love of dark, exploratory and thought-provoking art that challenges the mind. From now until the 7th of October, visitors to the gallery can enjoy breathtaking works created by hugely talented artists Flora Borsi, Magnus Gjoen, Mariska Karto and Maria Koshenkova. Curated under the theme of FLESH, the provocative show encourages viewers to explore their own relationship with their flesh (including desires, fantasies and destruction). The first of a series of pop-ups to take place in the gallery, it kicks things off in spectacular fashion. If this show's anything to go by, we can't wait to see what the next pop-up has in store... About the artists Magnus Gjoen Known for his dark humour and digital fine art pieces, Gjoen is an internationally renowned artist who has been billed as 'one to watch'. Gjoen's illustrious career has also included working as a denim designer and graphic designer for Vivienne Westwood, amongst others. Flora Borsi Flora is a Hungarian fine art photographer who uses exquisite photo manipulation to create surreal images that are thematically focused on identity, relationships, emotions and dreams. Her works often feature the female body and she plays with hiding and revealing the eyes or face to leave only the feminine form - exploring questions of female representation and the relationship between body and self. Mariska Karto Mariska is a South American fine-art photographer who explores the complex depths of emotion in her work, which is characterised by its dark, dream-like quality. To view the show, visit the Leontia Gallery (www.leontiagallery.com) from now until 7th of October.
Leontia Gallery 6 Charlotte Place London W1T 1SG Follow Leontia Gallery Twitter: @leontiagallery Insta: leontia_gallery A.A. Miln |
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