- Exhibition
Subversive design
- Applied Arts
- Mixed Media
Dates
Open Call:
Closed
Subversive design is critical design and does not offer direct solutions, but first asks questions. Critical design scrutinizes the status quo of the classical design system and wants to break it up creatively. It strives for a change, a design revolution. The group exhibition deals with urgent issues of our time such as climate protection, digitalization, nationalism, discrimination and gathers contemporary designers who offer alternative designs. The exhibition runs from 13 August 2021 to 9 January 2022, and we are looking for about a dozen critical, humorous designers who want to help us transform the NRW-Forum into a “Kaufhaus der Kritik”— department store of criticism— the entire exhibition will be auctioned off in the end.
Participate
Subversive design is critical design and does not offer direct solutions, but first asks questions. Critical design scrutinizes the status quo of the classical design system and wants to break it up creatively. It strives for a change, a design revolution. The group exhibition deals with urgent issues of our time such as climate protection, digitalization, nationalism, discrimination and gathers contemporary designers who offer alternative designs. The exhibition runs from 13 August 2021 to 9 January 2022, and we are looking for about a dozen critical, humorous designers who want to help us transform the NRW-Forum into a “Kaufhaus der Kritik”— department store of criticism— the entire exhibition will be auctioned off in the end.
Curatorial statement
After the pandemic pushed the exhibition "Subversive Design" further and further back, we are now happy to finally show the six finalists.
More than 50 submissions from the fields of fashion, photography, post-internet art, video and product design clearly show how important it is to subvert an existing (design) system and what brilliant counter-designs can emerge from it.
All the products of the selected designers convince with their hidden humour, their shifted perspective on form and function and a new, previously unseen use in everyday life. They challenge the users to change the way they deal with design objects and thus offer a glimpse into the future.
