29 September–30 October 2011
Press Preview: 28 September 2011
Official Opening: 29 September 2011
Group Discussion: 9:30–17:00, 30 September 2011
East Chengdu Music Park
No.4 Jianshe Rd. South Branch, former Chengdu Red Ray Electric Tube Factory
Chengdu, PRC
After the Industrial Revolution, design was regarded as a specialization serving clients. Its reliance on the capitalist system of development and the limitations of the employer-client relationship obscured its identity and independence. In other social systems, such as socialism, design was regarded as serving the even more powerful state and so it was downgraded, to serve as a medium for propaganda. What, when all is said and done, is design? Can it be independent in its client relationships? How can design achieve creative freedom?
While attempting to win identity and independence, design sought to make a break with its material limits and enter the lofty realm of social engineering. Its ultimate function drew on its multifaceted engagement with social movements through social operations, psychological structuring and system innovations. “Social Engineering”, what Joseph Beuys described as “social sculpture”, did not end with the hard material world, but was part of the “software” of societies like politics, economy and culture.
Many designers have broken with the habitual thinking that characterized the business tradition of their profession, confronting social issues and coming up with original solutions. In the complex contemporary context, design must provide solutions and answers for pressing social problems, and its excavation of lofty spiritual principles can ultimately succeed in finding designs with true identity and independence.
The Solutions: International Design Exhibition is one of the key components of the 2011 Chengdu Biennale. This exhibition seeks to serve as a major international design show reflecting and responding to rapidly changing social realities. A total of fifty designers working in five major fields (product design, architecture, fashion, visual design and new media) as well as in areas that cannot be readily categorized have used their creative approaches in response to “Design and Social Engineering”. A number of discussion groups, bringing together well-known designers, artists, critics and the heads of design organizations will address the issue of how design can actively engage in serving society.
Curator: Ou Ning
Founder and chief curator of Get it Louder (2005, 2007, 2010), Chief curator of 2009 Shenzhen & HongKong Bi-City Biennale of UrbanismArchitecture
List of Participants:
8gg, Adrian Blackwell, StauffacherBenz, Bob Chen, eonway, Hei Yiyang / SenseTeam, Matt Hope, Dooling Jiang, Jürg Lehni & Alex Rich, Lantian Project, LEVENBETTS, Li Ziran, Luo Xin, Norm, Lela Scherrer, SO-IL, Troika, Stanley WONG, Kasama Yamtree, Zhang Da, Zhang Lei; Dong Wensheng, Han Yu, Hsieh Ying-Chun, Hu Xiaogeng, Hu Zhongquan, Liang Hong, Liang Shaoji, Liu Binjian, Liu Qingyuan, Ma Ke, Qiu Anxiong, Dah-yue Shi, Tang Guo, Wang Yin, John Wong, Xiaoma+Chengzi, Yang Xiaoman, Zhang Jianping, Zhang Zhengyan, Zheng Xiaoguang, Zhu Zheqin Dadawa, Zhu Xiaojie.
Special Project: Bishan Commune Project
The Project has mobilized an array of artists, designers, musicians, poets and writers to Bishan village in Yi Xian, Anhui province, China, where they can work creatively with local farmers, artisans and undertake experimental projects while living and working together. Taking cues from Y. C. James Yen’s ideas on basic literacy training and Peter Kroptokin’s anarchist ideals, the project is an attempt to restore the social model of the self-governing village, as well as to activate village political, economic, and cultural life.
Special Project: Architecture in Literature
Five architects (Yung Ho Chang, Liu Jiakun, Ma Yansong, Wang Shu and Zhang Lei) were invited to select five literary works from their own reading and to provide their explanations with imaginary space designs as the embodiment of model forms. It is not designed to be a practical exercise, but rather to serve as an independent experiment in personal ways of thinking.
Confirmed Lecturers & Group Discussion Guests:
Renny Ramakers, Co-founder of Droog Design, Amsterdam
Emily Campbell, Director of Design, RSA, London
Chu-Joe Hsia, Professor of National Taiwan University, Taipei
Pratarn Teeratada, Managing Editor, art4d, Bangkok
Visiting the Exhibition:
Chengdu is the capital city of Sichuan Province, Western China. Regular flights from all major cities around China daily. About 20 min taxi ride from Chengdu Shuangliu Airport to downtown.
Press Contact:
For further information or images, please contact Caroline Peng thesolutions2011 [at] 126.com
