Responding to current economic, social and environmental crises, London’s NEF (New Economics Foundation) are this month running “The Bigger Picture”, a series of creative activities and events, exploring the possibilities of ‘a new kind of economy’, an economy which is low in carbon and high in well-being.
The event series culminates in a large-scale, public “Festival of Interdependence” in central London on 24 October 2009 when an interactive, living exhibition will be staged in the dramatic post-industrial setting of the Bargehouse on London’s South Bank. Read the rest of this entry »
Pitched to be this year’s most talked-about climate change film, The Age of Stupid is a new movie from director Franny Armstrong (of McLibel) and producer John Battsek (of One Day In September). In this epic tale, Pete Postlethwaite stars as a man living alone in the devastated future world of 2055, looking at old footage from 2008 and asking: why didn’t we stop climate change when we had the chance?
On Sunday 28 June 2009 at London’s Conway Hall, Alice Rawsthorn (design critic of the International Herald Tribune, columnist for the New York Times and a leading authority on contemporary design) will host a ’sermon’ at The School of Life entitled “Alice Rawsthorn on Good Design”.
Asking how technology, globalisation and sustainability will impact the creative sector? And, further, how they impact the education sector? Ravensbourne College of Design & Communication presents the 2009 Cumulus Conference: ‘Confronting Challenge with Change’ at the O2, on 27 – 30 May 2009. Key note speakers include Lord David Puttnam, Dr Angela Dumas, Sir Ken Robinson, Prof. Robin Baker OBE and many other industry and education leaders.
On April 30th, in the heart of London, four students from London’s Ravensbourne College of Design will present Blank Canvas, a silent auction of customised design work by the likes of Milton Glaser, Ken Garland, Non-Format, Jonathan Barnbrook, Si Scott, Julien Vallee, James Goggin, Graphic Thought Facility and many more!
Blank Canvas is an event organised by the students on the BA (hons) Design for Moving Image and Graphic Design course to raise funds for their graduation show. They will be sending a list of top designers and illustrators random items, found in various jumble sales and charity shops across London (anything from an old teapot, to a rusty cog, to a vintage suitcase). They will then be asked to customise these items to then be collected and put to auction on April 30th at the Vibe Bar on London’s Brick Lane.
Brilliant idea guys, I’m looking forward to seeing some old stuff made new!
In collaboration with the Samaritans, talented photographer Hege Sæbjørnsen is organising ‘Affluenza’… THE exhibition. With an aim to promote “creative self-expression as a powerful tool to develop an understanding of ourselves and the world around us”, an exhibition of works from over thirty international multidisciplinary visual and performing artists, “…aims to inspire an open debate about the destructive impact of consumer values on our emotional well-being and our integrity as human beings.”
The call for artists has been launched, and entries will be selected by a prominent panel of judges, including Jonathan Barnbrook, ‘Affluenza’ author Oliver James and the Design Museum’s Michael Czerwinski.
The deadline for submissions is 30th January 2009 and the events are scheduled to begin in March. For full details about the project visit AffluenzaExhibition.org, and you can also join the exhibition’s group on Facebook.
With introductory speeches from Design Council Chairman Sir Michael Bichard KCB and Live|Work Founding Director Chris Downs on Wednesday evening, the symposium running through Thursday and Friday will bring together leading academics, professionals and students to explore the practice of graphic design for the future.
Co-ordinated by Professor Teal Triggs (LCC) and Dr. Laurene Vaughan (RMIT), New Views 2 is structured with intent to allow open dialogue. Over the two-day symposium, six topical clusters – formed from the selected paper submissions, allow attendees to join discussions specific to their interest areas:
• Cluster 1: Design Writing/Criticism: Repositioning the Debate.
• Cluster 2: Graphic Design: Interdisciplinary.
• Cluster 3: Graphic Design: Practice and Methods.
• Cluster 4: Research/Innovation: New Critical Thinking.
• Cluster 5: Responsive Curricula: Shifting Paradigms.
• Cluster 6: Graphic Design: Changing the ‘Real World’.
The clustered group propositions are now available for download from www.newviews.co.uk
Previously unreleased footage from the legendary TCT at The Royal Albert Hall will be available on DVD from Monday 14th April 2008.
Packed with performances that capture the spirit of this unique event, including one-off collaborations between Noel Gallagher and Paul Weller and Razorlight and The Who’s Roger Daltrey, the DVD will be available from the Teenage Cancer Trust website immediately at a special preview price. All profits from the sale of the DVD will go to Teenage Cancer Trust, helping them to continue to build specialist teenage cancer units within the NHS for young people with cancer.
What a great contemporary design for such a great purpose! It would be great to see this design style attached to the main Charity website though!
“If you missed Steven Heller’s exhibition and lectures at the School of Visual Arts last year, this site is almost as good as the real thing” [Michael Bierut].
I just stumbled upon an event I can’t quite believe I missed out on. Early this month, Eye Magazine teamed up with Camberwell College of Art, to host a forum on Ethics in the Creative Industries.
On the 11th of March 2008 the Design Cluster at Camberwell in association with Eye Magazine held a discussion forum to examine how ethical issues are being addressed within the creative industries. Key writers, designers and thinkers presented their thoughts in discussion with staff, students and representatives ‘from industry’. Speakers included: Ken Garland, Anne Odling Smee, Rick Poynor, Lucienne Roberts, Rathna Ramanathan and Noel Douglas.
“The event featured talks based on previous Eye articles. First there was a conversation between Ken Garland and Anne Odling-Smee, followed by designer Rathna Ramanathan talking about her work for the BBC World Service in rural India. In the afternoon we heard from designer-activist Noel Douglas and Eye columnist Rick Poynor, whose talk ‘The value of no’ encapsulated and expanded upon many of the themes triggered by the Camberwell students’ interest in First Things First and its aftermath.”
According to the recent eye-newsletter [via email today], the forum review will be published in the forthcoming Eye Mag – due in the shops next month. Whilst we all eagerly await the discussion reviews, the forum’s blog is a worthy visit if you are in need of some designer ethics.
Singapore’s Design Management Institute present Design|Value, a unique international conference that aims to demonstrate how to use design and design thinking to solve business objectives. On 13-14 March 2008, at Grand Hyatt in Singapore, a panel of international experts, will communicate how to create value through design, based on the triple bottom line: economic, social/cultural, and environmental value. Read the rest of this entry »
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