The Scene Is Here 2019

What does the future hold for humankind? How can we grapple with the ramifications of our actions and systems —practically and intellectually of course, but also emotionally? Beyond serving the often delicate equilibrium between form and function, design as a discipline has always strived to adopt a problem-solving role within society at large; consequently it comes as no surprise that world famous Dutch design is at the forefront of today’s innovative, boundary breaking and medium defying initiatives.

From the 19th until the 27th of October, the annual Dutch Design Week reimagines the rich legacy of Dutch design as an attitude that reaches well beyond hierarchical structures and national borders. And who better to embody that attitude than the new generation of talents represented in The Scene Is Here? Created by Creative Industries Fund NL, this exhibition and performance programme is devised to support 28 emerging designers and makers who received this year’s grant from the Talent Development grant scheme. Through a series of unique performances, workshops and talks the talents present their practices personally to the public, inviting the audience to participate in shaping a positive future together.

Describing themselves as designers, artists, and “technological adventurers”, Arvid Jense and Marie Caye work together under their design studio Arvid&Marie to investigate a collaborative future between man and machine, focusing specifically on design for artificial life forms.  Frustrated with only designing for humans, the duo asks the hard-hitting questions —with the climate crisis looming, aren’t we at humanism’s dead end? Perhaps “human species shouldn’t be dominating” at this point, suggets Marie. Collaborating with scientists and biologists to develop truly post-human designs, Arvid&Marie embody DDW’s focus on design for the future and the future of design.

Daria Kiseleva comes from a typography background, but her practice reaches far beyond the borders of a singular discipline. Positioned on the intersection of graphic design, art, technology and pop culture, Daria centers her work on the digital image, it’s production and manipulation, and the subsequent formation of new norms, power structures and behaviours—“I think it’s really hard to understand contemporary realities without understanding new technologies”. To dive deeper into the intricate web of digital technologies, join Kiseleva on Friday the 25^that 5pm for a performative talk. Through a live essay the artist is investigating the world in which algorithms, databases and ‘training sets’ determine what normal and desired behaviour is.

A graduate of the famous Gerrit Rietveld Academie,  textile graduate Anouk Beckers tackles the hot topic of over-consumption and over-production plaguing the fashion industry. Eager to find truly sustainable alternatives to the relentless and isolating fast fashion cycle, she has set up JOIN Collective Clothes. A series of upcycling workshops, JOIN Collective Clothes fascilitates shared garment making, thus aiming to reclaim fashion as a highly collective pursuit. Within this methodology of reclaiming everyone has the opportunity to become a fashion designer and a collector of pieces; to try out for yourself, join Anouk this Friday for a Dutch Design Week instalment of the workshop.