Logo Room, project realised in Labor Visuell, Düsseldorf. Photo: press materials
The festival provides a review of the newest trends in international design, with a special focus on Austrian design, along with a presentation of the concepts and future visions of designers and companies dealing with design and production of prototypes
Exhibitions within the framework of the Festival encompass industrial design, fashion, interior architecture, utility prints (including outdoor), typography and graphic identification. The concept of the Festival relies on the juxtaposition of proprietary design/unique design via mass production. An important element of verification of designers is the impact of Austrian design tradition on modern pattern design.
The "Design Attack" International Design Festival in Kraków is the city's first such event devoted entirely to design. The even is built largely on social capital, as there is no institution behind it. The main organiser, the Forum foundation, is represented by three women - and functions primarily the promote design, but also organizations that work in other areas: foundations, museums, trade and culture.
"For some time we have observed a flourishing of festivals in Kraków as well as international projects, not including design. On the other hand, we see a number of very interesting local initiatives related to design, projects we are a fan of, and would like to show to others. The combination of these two observations conceived the idea of the festival", says Iwona Kargol-Dębicka, head of the Forum Foundation.
The individual events of the festival take place at several points in Kraków, including the city's Academy, Solvay Centre for Contemporary Art, Stained Glass Museum, Museum of Urban Engineering, Centre for Jewish Culture, Bunkier Sztuki and private galleries. This year, the first edition of the festival is to draw attention primarily on the use of new materials in design.
"The main topic of the festival, 'the material of the future', is not accidental (...) We wanted to start from scratch, organising the first such festival in Kraków", says Iwona Kargol-Dębicka. The exhibition "Materials of the Future", presented at the Solvay Centre for Contemporary Art, shows the evolution of materials used in design, featuring designers who use innovative technologies or create experimental projects using unlikely materials. These range from plastic (first Bakelite materials, first biodegradable materials, AbetPrint laminate) and head in the direction of ecology, nano-technology, composite, hybrid materials and 3D design. The presentation also shows the three stages of the new product-creation process: development of a new material, the designers' use of its properties for utility purposes in the form of a prototype, a conceptual sketch or a short series, and finally preparation of a product for mass production.
New technologies in contemporary design - which use transparent materials, semi transparent and translucent, are presented in the exhibition "Transparent. Words and things" held at the Stained Glass Museum.
The exhibition "Switch on Design!" at the Museum of Urban Engineering has been put together as a part of the main programme of the Design Attack Festival 2010 which is devoted to the "Materials of the Future" and new technologies. Its general aim is to present the history of the object through the history of technology, as well as the influence of technology on the form of everyday articles in the past and at present.
The exhibition presents the relations between the emergence of new technologies and design in historical perspective which embrace the period from the 1920s to the present day, displaying materials, objects and documentary films which represent the achievements of technology, as well as products that changed our way of thinking and led to the beginning of the new era in a given field.
The "New Arrivals" exhibition has partnered with Prodesigne to show design and projects of world-famous artists such as: Urquiola, Bouroullec, Lissoni, Starck, Yoshioka, Lavi and Citterio. Work by these famous designers - using materials from the past and future - are presented in one space. The exhibition will be followed by a lecture of Katarzyna M. Rzehak - deputy editor of design magazine Dobre Wnętrze - on the subject of using plastic in contemporary design and the possibilities that innovative materials provide.
The "Young Austrian Design" exhibition, aims to present the young Austrian impact of design on the background of a rich tradition of handicrafts and architecture of Austria's former multicultural contemporary design. The exhibition is also meant to provoke some thought about how to define and adopt a national tradition in contemporary design. The selection of this year's main guests is not accidental and concerns a long-term tradition and history associating Poland's Małopolska region with Austria.
The exhibitions will be accompanied by an international conference and workshops with the participation of experts from various fields, held at the Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski Kraków Academy. Among the guests are: Alessandro Deserti (Italy), Aleksandra Jaeschke (Italy), Tobie Kerridge (UK), Sascha Peters (Germany), Tomasz Rygalik (Poland) and Juhani Salovaara (Finland). A series of accompanying events, including an exhibition of works by prominent designer Stefan Kanchev, a retrospective exhibition of the Bulgarian design icons of the twentieth century, and a presentation of the achievements of the Bulgarian POSTSTUDIO studio in the form of the "Visual Cut Bulgaria".
"Design Attack" runs between November 5 - December 5, 2010.
For more information and a detailed programme, see: www.designattack.pl
Organisers: Forum Foundation with the cooperation of the Marshal Office of Małopolska Region.
Source: Press release.