Conference
First Symposium and Exhibition
October 13, 2021 – October 14, 2021
About the event
The first in-person event of this new and innovative initiative took place at MOME as a part of the Budapest Design Week 2021 as an international symposium and exhibition. The program featured exciting lectures, roundtable discussions and an international student exhibit highlighting the importance of social design and its opportunities in the future. The programme was an official programme of the Budapest Design Week 2021 festival. The festival is curated and financed by the Hungarian Intellectual Property Office and organized by the Hungarian Design Council. Read the conference summary — SYMPOSIUM After welcoming words, the conference was launched with a presentation about the Social Design Network Journey by Bori Fehér & Jonathan Ventura, the founders and chairs of the SDN.
Lectures in two blocks were held by Bianca Herlo (Berlin University of the Arts, Berlin, D), Alvise Mattozzi (Free University of Bozen-Bolzano (Unibz), Bozen-Bolzano, IT, and Politecnico di Torino, Torino, IT) Ruth Helene Melioranski (Estonian Academy of the Arts (EKA), Tallinn, ET), Ariel Guersenzvaig (Elisava – Barcelona School of Design and Engineering, Barcelona, ES), Jonathan Ventura – (Hadassah Academic College (HAC), Jerusalem, ISR) and Bori Fehér – (Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design Budapest (MOME), Budapest, HU).
In the afternoon a roundtable discussion took place, titled ‘Perspectives of social design in higher education and the intersections of social design and the creative industry’.
The discussion aimed to answer the following questions: What does social future mean? What is the future of social design linked to higher education in terms of institutional strategies? How can educators/experts help students to utilize social design methods in their design practice? What can be the role of social design concerning the creative industry and social innovation?
Panelists included Bianca Herlo (Berlin University of the Arts, Berlin, D), Alvise Mattozzi (Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Bozen-Bolzano, IT, and Politecnico di Torino, Torino, IT), Ruth Helene Melioranski (Estonian Academy of the Arts (EKA), Tallinn, ET), Ariel Guersenzvaig (Elisava – Barcelona School of Design and Engineering, Barcelona, ES), Jonathan Ventura (Hadassah Academic College, Jerusalem, ISR), Zsuzsa Kravalik (Urban Innovative Actions Expert, ForwArt project, Tilburg, the Netherlands).
EXHIBITION
SOCIAL FUTURES: The first exhibition of The Social Design Network
“In short, man communicates with others. He is a “political animal,” not because he is a social animal, but because he is a solitary animal who cannot live in solitude.” (Vilem Flusser, What is Communication?).
The global events triggered by the current COVID-19 pandemic keep influencing us all, in all daily venues, for almost two years. As economic shifts influence our consumer behavior and the ways we interact with each other, it is but natural that design as a discipline will change as well. Design education worldwide has also adapted to the new normal of the global pandemic while redefining its values and priorities. As economy, politics, social constructs and culture change in erratic ways, some theoreticians and practitioners agree that we need socially sensitive, human-centered solutions more than ever, focusing on real, tangible answers and social equity. Not only do we need to redefine the role of design as a discipline, we need to reconsider our species’ impacts on Earth and the way we communicate with others, be it human and non-human, as well as truly understand our place in this reality.
The Social Design Network’s new initiative, the ‘Social Futures’ exhibition presented selected projects and concepts developed by the institutions of the founding partners of the Social Design Network (UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Estonia, Italy, Spain and Israel). This international selection of works featured projects that respond to wider social issues, but are also applicable for life during and after a global pandemic. As is the temporal nature of design, we work in the present, aim for the future and reflect on the past. The final selection of student and graduation projects were arranged into four sections, which represent the Social Design Network’s core values as well:
_DIGITAL REALITIES
_POWER OF COMMUNITY
_SUSTAINABILITY AND ENVIRONMENT
_HUMAN CONNECTION