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(Archive) Despise design, all bless the fair!

This project was part of DDW 2022
graphic design by Dymfy van Meel + Jesse van Meel

A series of performative acts wherein designers perform the condemnation of design fairs and their systems of power. Onomatopee offers its space to fresh and audacious performative statements.

SINS: 7 acts on design and damnation

Design fairs stand as salient events for designers to gather and assemble a choral, hopeful image of the world to come. Beyond the social significance and the economic forces of design, these fairs manifest the contradictions and precariousness embedded in the landscape of design. Temporary exhibition materials generate enormous amounts of exhibition waste in opposition to environmental concerns; opaque curatorial practices fly in the face of inclusivity; self-absorbed narcissism and desire for “star-designers” relegate collective possibilities to the margins. 



Inspired on the seven deadly sins, this collective exhibition targets the monetized culture of design fairs and challenges the represented practices within. Via evocative performances the group of 14 designers present the sinful side of design celebrations seen from the figurative teachings of Sloth, Pride, Wrath, Envy, Greed, Lust and Gluttony.

RE-design-er

After years of pondering stasis, we are now all set. Meanwhile, the design field has been transforming. New forms of thinking and making have emerged. Onomatopee is now daring designers to act.

Through three distinct shows, Onomatopee presents the work of designers who critically question and re-think the role of design and the designer.

With this critical gaze, Onomatopee turns into an active laboratory, offering makers, agents, thinkers and performers a playground for experiment. We are not just interested in design solutions, but rather in the possibility of creating new opportunities for action. This implies awareness to how you work, the process.

It is on those processes, that anticipate and inform the design practice, that we turn our attention.The RE-design-er offers us the ability to continuously question ourselves.
A vibrant public program invites you to experience and discuss, out loud and freely, how, why, and for whom does design happen? 

RE-Design-er is curated by Cecilia Casabona in collaboration with Onomatopee.