THE NEXT BIG THING IS NOT A THING

It is striking how much appreciation design currently receives. It is a phenomenon of our time; whether it be in its increased visibility in all kinds of media, the growing number of visitors to Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven, or the trust in the creative industry as a driver of innovation, making it a leading sector of the Dutch economy. Consequently, there are more lectures and debates about and organised by designers, Dezeen – the prominent eye-candy design webzine – was launched and last year published its first critical essay, manifestos are again being formulated, and (Dutch) critics from various schools of thought fundamentally disagree about the sense and nonsense of design: all illustrations of an emancipated and grown-up discipline. However, is our confidence in design and the designer well founded? Does the designer have our best intentions at heart? Is a design at the service of humankind or the market? The question concerning the function and responsibility of design has become central to the designer’s role. Far beyond the traditional boundaries of designing a functional or industrial product, the design discipline is heading into new domains.These changes are catalysed by all of the opportunities offered by the medialisation and the democratisation of technological tools, resulting in the design of processes, systems, and strategies. The object or design has become immaterial. IN DESIGN WE TRUST These changes and the extension of the concept of design also stem from the broadening of education and the emergence of various sub-disciplines. Design thinking focuses on the creative economy and the ‘out of the box thinking’ of managers. Open-source design seeks to give the user a voice in the design process and does so to co-create with (not for) the user and through observations and interventions. Social design searches for ways to improve our relations to each other. Designers are increasingly adopting (research) methods and tools from other disciplines, such as anthropology, sociology, ethnography, archaeology, and other natural, social, and technical sciences. Their approaches are often far from scientific and outside of accredited forms of knowledge; however, they are underscored by strong ideas and a passionate attitude. Whether or not in collaboration, designers investigate new roads and (re) present alternative realities. They expose what is hidden beneath the surface, questioning the prevailing ideas and ways of thinking about how our society takes shape. Accordingly, they are broadening the understanding of what is usually understood by the term design. The exhibition The Next Big Thing is Not a Thing – Surveying the Design Discipline connects these developments within the field of design to the science of anthropology. Using ‘the gaze’ as a metaphor, the exhibition explores the limits of the design discipline and shows new forms of knowledge development and critical reflection. The exhibition considers various myths of design, deconstructs design’s symbolism, and shows the influence of technology on the design landscape. The exhibition is also a working paper on the designed environment. Thank you to all the participating artists, activists, and designers, who entrusted their work to us: Adbusters, Uli Aigner, AO Clouds, Atelier NL, Maarten Baas, Roger Ballen & Die Antwoord, Artur Beifuss, Marc Bijl, Zach Blas, Pierre Bourdieu, James Bridle, Ingrid Burrington, Emma Charles, Cucula, Dries Depoorter, Theo Deutinger with Stefanos Filippas, Heather Dewey-Hagborg, Ines Doujak with John Barker, Jalila Essaïdi, Forensic Architecture, Forma Fantasma voor Droog Design, Dave Hakkens, Massoud Hassani, Susanna Hertrich, Manon van Hoeckel, Dirk Vander Kooij, !Mediengruppe Bitnik, Monobanda & DUS Architecten, Fabrice Monteiro, Jasper Morrison, Geert Mul, Eli Noyes, Alicia Ongay-Perez, Ruben Pater with Jaap van Heusden, Eline van der Ploeg, Julien Prévieux, Re-Do Studio, Jan Rothuizen, Safecast, ScanLAB, SchilderScholte Architecten, Lalage Snow, Philippe Starck, Studio Drift, Gudrun F. Widlok, The Yes Men, Liam Young and TeYosh. SASKIA VAN STEIN DIRECTOR BUREAU EUROPA, PLATFORM FOR ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN I am delighted with the visual identity that Mind Design developed for this project. Finally, my grateful thanks go to all the curators: Agata Jaworska, Niels Schrader, and especially to Pauline Doutreluingne and to Yana Milev whose research and accompanying publication, Design Anthropology, inspired the realisation of this exhibition. 2 3