VIENNA DESIGN WEEK 2020

VIENNA DESIGN WEEK is Austria‘s largest curated design festival and has been taking place in Vienna since 2007. 2019 it welcomed over 40,000 visitors to around 200 events per year. In 2020 VIENNA DESIGN WEEK will take place from 25th of September to the 6th of October. We will adapt some things due to the circumstances of the consequences of Covid-19, the basic orientation and fields remain.

During ten days each Autumn VIENNA DESIGN WEEK proves that Vienna is a „City Full of Design“. Overlooked corners of the city turn into stages for design, both critical and playful approaches, entry-level communication and professional discourse explore new perspectives on the objects around us and design as well as manufacturing processes are revealed often in experimental ways specific to their location.

The multifaceted output that product, furniture and industrial design, architecture, graphic design and social design as well as experimental and increasingly digital positions produce and that is the mark of quality of the Viennese and Austrian design scene is at the heart of VIENNA DESIGN WEEK. The festival aims to internationally connect this local potential which is something that clearly shows in its programme.

In addition to the festival formats such as Passionswege, which celebrate their 15th anniversary in 2020 and will be celebrated with a best-of exhibition of projects from previous years, Stadtarbeit and Urban Food & Design, VIENNA DESIGN WEEK focuses on annually changing topics and their implications for design. Another crucial addition are the contributions organised by the numerous Programme Partners. Finally, celebration and informal networking find their due place in the festival.

VIENNA DESIGN WEEK is directed by Lilli Hollein, who next to Tulga Beyerle and Thomas Geisler is one of the founders of the festival. She conceptualises and realises the festival together with a team uniting a variety of areas of expertise and approaches to design. Beyond that VIENNA DESIGN WEEK relies on a strong network of dedicated supporters and collaborators. Since then, its focus has been bringing local and international design positions and relevant discourse to Vienna each year. VIENNA DESIGN WEEK is a culture festival, not a trade fair. The majority of contributions are curated by the VIENNA DESIGN WEEK organization and accompanied over a period of months, from idea to realization.

Festival: September 25 - October 4, 2020

Festival Headquarters at Amtshaus Theresienbadgasse

Theresienbadgasse 3, 1120 Vienna FESTIVAL

The Festival in times of the pandemic

The Festival 2020 is taking place!

We have learned, felt and experienced so much in the past few months! Change, digital transformation, creative problem solving: These are all terms that we’ve been using for some time, but they suddenly sound quite different and new. Challenging is the word that we like to use, because it suggests athleticism, ambition and also, at the same time, a slight sense of exhaustion. But this isn’t about wearing the jersey for being King of the Mountains, it’s about not carrying on doing things in the old way but, rather, taking steps in a new direction.

Today, more than ever, design is in a position to demonstrate both the role that it can play in society as a discipline and the positive influence that it can exert through the development of the tools and processes that we will need in the future. The work of designers involves not only the development of products, but also the shaping of social processes. And we will need both if we are going to make progress on the basis of all these experiences.

Designers – and the VIENNA DESIGN WEEK team – are well-practiced in reacting to challenging situations with flexibility and curiosity. For this, my colleagues have earned my lasting gratitude, and I can say with confidence that we have, once again, succeeded in putting together a richly varied festival program in 2020.
I would like to thank you for reading this program with interest and we are looking forward to meeting you soon – in both our virtual and our physical spaces!

Lilli Hollein
Director VIENNA DESIGN WEEK

Festival-Team 2020 ©
Katharina Gossow / VIENNA DESIGN WEEK

We take our responsibility for the safety and health of our visitors, guests, employees and of all those, who are involved in the festival in any other way, very seriously. As part of our COVID-19 safety concept, our employees are trained to comply with all legal requirements. In order to be able to offer the maximum safety to all participants, including during events, please comply with the latest COVID-19 safety regulations, which can be found at viennadesignweek.at.   >> more information here

VIENNA DESIGN WEEK 2020

Festival: 25.9. - 4.10. 2020
www.viennadesignweek.at

Pressekontakt
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© Vienna Design Week 2020, All rights reserved

Andrea Mayer
Secretary of State for the Arts and Culture

Design is not only an important economic factor and an integral part of our cultural fabric, it also serves as a driving force behind the development of sustainable socio-ecological solutions, especially in such challenging times. Over the years, the VIENNA DESIGN WEEK has contributed to a broad awareness of the relevance and the timeliness of Austrian design. The festival’s programming and diverse presentation formats offer countless opportunities for those interested in contemporary design to engage with topics according to their individual interests and to contribute to discussions and establish new collaborations. 2020 is a challenging year for the arts, which is why the Austrian Federal Government, as the main public partner, is pleased to support the activities of the VIENNA DESIGN OFFICE and the realization of the VIENNA DESIGN WEEK with increased funding. I extend my thanks to the team behind Austria's largest design festival for their efforts to further strengthen the importance of design both at home and abroad. I wish you every success for your event!

Veronica Kaup-Hasler
Vienna's Executive City Councilor for Cultural Affairs and Science

What is the role of design in a crisis such as the one that we are experiencing right now? The VIENNA DESIGN WEEK started asking this question at an early stage and has reacted to the changed environment with a program packed with innovative ideas and content. This year's edition of the festival is an invitation to the people of Vienna to think about design in their city and to discover new perspectives. It offers the Austrian design scene an opportunity to address the current challenges and also, once again, to present its highlyvaried work. And, by moving more elements of the program into the digital arena, the festival will also reach an international audience that is unable to travel to Vienna this year. I am looking forward to a fascinating festival and would like to thank Lilli Hollein and her team for their extraordinary and tireless commitment!

Gerhard Hirczi
Managing Director of the Vienna Business Agency

Having a laugh, eating, drinking and living together. A key cornerstone of Vienna's international appeal is its famous restaurant and culinary culture. And how we produce and distribute our food is just as central to the image of a smart city as the traditional schnitzel and pancakes. COVID-19 has tested the system to its limits. And we've seen that we can only deal with such crises if we strengthen social cooperation – analogically and digitally. We have been addressing the subject of urban food for some time and are continuing to do so this year, this time with the motto The New Local. We want to know just how innovative Vienna's creative industries can be when they turn their attention to food production and what food supply solutions they can come up with. You can find answers to these questions during the VIENNA DESIGN WEEK. The presentation marks the launch of the Let’s talk Lebensmittel campaign, which will be one of the focuses of the Vienna Business Agency in the coming year. In this spirit: Enjoy your meal!

Norbert Kettner
Director of the Vienna Tourist Board

Hats off to the VIENNA DESIGN WEEK for the fact that this year's 14th edition is taking place, despite COVID-19 and all the accompanying complications! Right now, such signals are very important. Right now, we need exactly those things that make Vienna so special: art, culture and design – anchored in a close-knit international network. A global signal that Vienna's social life is continuing – and that there are many reasons for visiting our city. The VIENNA DESIGN WEEK and all that it represents offer a good recipe for avoiding this. The Vienna Tourist Board has been supporting the VIENNA DESIGN WEEK as a partner for many years, underlining its conviction that the attractiveness of a city is also closely related to contemporary design and creative potential. I wish the organizers a successful festival in both the virtual and the physical realm and trust that it will continue to feature the brilliant and creative ideas that offer visitors an exciting and surprising Vienna experience!

FOCUS DISTRICT MEIDLING

“Get rich or try Meidling”, is a tongue-in-cheek way of referring to the affordable price of property in Vienna's 12th district. Mind you: Meidling is no longer only highly sought-after among apartment seekers. Meidling is booming! But this is not the only reason why the VIENNA DESIGN WEEK is using its Focus District label as a means of casting a spotlight on the district, which is also well-known for its phonetic characteristics (greetings from the Meidling L!). With its mixture of traditional structures and dynamically developing neighborhoods, of residential, transport and industrial usage and densely and less-densely built areas, the district appears almost predestined to be a design laboratory. Its history as a traditional working-class district is just as tangible as the influence of the industry that continues to be based here, the identity of former village centers and the presence of a range of communities. From the Wien River to the Schöpfwerk, from Hetzendorf to the Gürtel, from the Festival Headquarters in the Amtshaus Theresienbadgasse via the Festival Branch Solarium to Meidlinger Markt – the festival program of the VIENNA DESIGN WEEK can be seen as an invitation to local and international visitors to (re)discover the district. And one thing is certain: You should definitely try Meidling!

FESTIVAL HEADQUARTERS

It’s a short step from doing things bureaucratically to chilling out completely! This truism, which could just as well be interpreted as a reference to this year’s festival organization (but no – it isn’t), is an apt description of the experience of visitors as they immerse themselves in this year's festival. By establishing its geographical centerpiece – the Festival Headquarters – in the Amtshaus in Theresienbadgasse, the VIENNA DESIGN WEEK is positioning itself not only close to what is probably Vienna's oldest existing bathing establishment, but also inside one of the Vienna City Council's former administrative buildings. For ten days, two stories of the previously unassuming, but thoroughly charming building will be flooded with a selection of high-quality design projects. With its proximity to Meidlinger Hauptstraße and the metro, the historic location – Maria Theresia built an exclusive spa for the imperial family here in the 18th century – offers a fitting platform for the VIENNA DESIGN WEEK. From here, visitors can dive (and immerse themselves) into not only the City Full of Design and its Focus District, but also this year's special feature, our Virtual Festival Headquarters. Splash! The doors to the Festival Headquarters have been kindly opened to us by: Vienna City Council – Department of Construction and Building Management

VIRTUAL FESTIVAL HEADQUARTERS

The VIENNA DESIGN WEEK is opening a portal into another world! In architecture, portals constantly offer opportunities to access new spaces and discover new things. This is the function of the Festival Headquarters of the VIENNA DESIGN WEEK, whose location changes every year: It welcomes the public and helps to find the way through the program. The fact that this central physical place now has a digital counterpart may well have been triggered by COVID-19, but this is far from being the only reason. The decision to create a setting that is specially designed for experiencing digital content is much more a result of the respective focuses of the festivals in 2018 (Virtual & Augmented Reality) and 2019 (Game Design). Hence, together with a working group of experts and a wide range of external partners, the VIENNA DESIGN WEEK has created a virtual space that regards a digital presence not as an emergency solution but as an autonomous form of expression – an experiment full of immersive encounters, which visitors can experience on their own smartphones, computers, or VR glasses and the platform Mozilla Hubs, independent of their location. A portal to this virtual world, in which design tools are just as urgently needed as they are in our tangible reality, can also be found in the physical Festival Headquarters. The Virtual Festival Headquarters has been developed in cooperation with Wilhelm Scherübl (Architect and artist), Martina Menegon (Artist) and Eva Fischer and Angie Pohl (sound:frame, Area for Virtual Art).

FESTIVAL BRANCH SOLARIUM

The sun rises in Meidling. In a former solarium on one of the main routes into the city, the VIENNA DESIGN WEEK is bringing together the rising stars of this year's edition of the festival: Alongside Austrian educational institutions New Design University St. Pölten (NDU) and TU Wien, we are particularly pleased to welcome the Academy of Fine Arts and Design from Bratislava in Slovakia and ZHdK – Zurich University of the Arts, from this year's Guest Country, Switzerland. The latter is visiting Vienna as part of the format Debut, in which the VIENNA DESIGN WEEK traditionally turns the spotlight on exceptional international educational institutions. In light of this, the Expositur Meidlinger Sonnendeck invites you to visit a shimmering cosmos where, alongside vitamin D, you can also get your full of a little vitamin B.

GUEST COUNTRY SWITZERLAND

Grüezi, Ciao, Salut, Allegra! Alongside the Focus District and the Festival Headquarters, the Guest Country is a further thematic cornerstone upon which a considerable part of the festival program is built every year. With this changing focus, each year's VIENNA DESIGN WEEK offers a richly detailed insight into the creative life of a different European country. This year's guest is our western neighbor, Switzerland, which is celebrated worldwide for its rigorous design culture and the uncompromising commitment to quality of its industrial production, as well as for a range of innovative educational and training institutions. On the basis of these principles and across all the festival formats, the Guest Country of the VIENNA DESIGN WEEK 2020 a diverse program that – just like a panning shot – promises enlightening insights into and an overview of the present and the future of the Swiss design landscape. Special attention is being paid to highlighting new possibilities for cooperation. To mark Switzerland's appearance as Guest Country, the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia – in cooperation with Design Prize Switzerland – is presenting the exhibition DESIGN

GUEST COUNTRY SWITZERLAND Exhibition DESIGN SWITZERLAND Pro Helvetia

Switzerland is the Guest Country at the 2020 VIENNA DESIGN WEEK. To mark the occasion, the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia – in cooperation with Design Prize Switzerland – is highlighting young and innovative Swiss design with the exhibition DESIGN SWITZERLAND. Located at the heart of the festival, the exhibition presents nine studios and startups that share a common vision of impactful design, be it ecological, social, or cultural. The participating studios and startups were selected through a call for participation. They share an innovative vision of design and propose smart solutions in the shape of a range of products: adaptable typography, interactive replicas, smart textiles, connected heating systems, functional sleepwear, ingenious spectacles, distinctive tableware, powerful data visualization and multidisciplinary services. In addition to their presentation, the participating designers will benefit from a targeted matchmaking program and networking with potential business partners. prohelvetia.ch Alongside the DESIGN SWITZERLAND exhibition, the Guest Country program is enriched by the participation of renowned Swiss brands, institutions and design professionals all of whom highlight the characteristically responsible and entrepreneurial Swiss approach to tackling the profound transformations that we are undergoing: the Embassy of Switzerland in Austria, the ZHdK – Zurich University of the Arts, which is appearing as part of the festival format Debut, and QWSTION, FREITAG, Rado and LAUFEN. GUEST COUNTRY SWITZERLAND

Exhibition SWISS CRAFTLAB NOV Gallery / Okro

On the occasion of the VIENNA DESIGN WEEK, the NOV and Okro galleries from Eastern

and Western Switzerland are pleased to present a selection of emerging and established Swiss design studios as part of their SWISS CRAFTLAB exhibition. SWISS CRAFTLAB is a showcase of ancestral techniques and craftsmanship which are revisited with the purpose of creating a new contemporary aesthetic. Traditional materials take on new forms while age-old objects discover new uses. A CITY FULLER OF DESIGN - Augmented Reality App Game on! With program items taking place right across the city, every year the VIENNA DESIGN WEEK transforms Vienna into a City Full of Design: Previously ignored corners become showplaces for design, for critically yet nimbly addressing the dynamic (local) design sector. In short: a multifaceted design playground that can now also be explored with the help of a new augmented reality app for the duration of the festival, (25.9.–4.10.). In a similar way to “Pokémon GO”, users in the urban realm can search for hidden elements of the festival graphic design by Bueronardin as a way of navigating their way to the program items tucked away in every corner of the city (please note the opening times!) and receive additional information about the highly varied contents of the ten-day festival. Users can also collect rewards, share their visit to the festival with friends and take part in competitions.

PASSIONSWEGE - 15 YEARS

15 years of the Passionswege! The Passionswege have shaped the VIENNA DESIGN WEEK like no other festival format. As a pilot project and cornerstone they are even a year older than the festival itself. The focus of this curated format, which sees design as a unifying, creatively fertile element, is the cooperation – as equal partners - between designers and Vienna's craft-based businesses. An intense exchange of know-how provides the basis for an open, experimental process free from commercial pressure, with the aim of developing unexpected solutions, projects and products – or, simply, to ask the right questions. In more than 100 cooperative commissions stretching back over the past 15 years, a process combining a sensitive approach to given reality with visionary thinking has led to the creation of countless objects that have transformed the work of all those involved and transported the audience of the VIENNA DESIGN WEEK to the world of traditional artisanal production. To mark the anniversary of the Passionswege, the VIENNA DESIGN WEEK is expanding an exhibition conceived for Collectible, the Brussels design fair, into a retrospective that is completely devoted to the delights of the collectively created objects. In addition to this: the first 15 years of the format are represented by a glass/mirror cabinet from the Swiss artist Daniela Schönbächler and J. & L. Lobmeyr, the partner with whom the VIENNA DESIGN WEEK has most often cooperated in the context of the Passionswege.

PASSIONSWEGE - PRESENTATION

15 years ago, one year before the founding of the VIENNA DESIGN WEEK, when we first realized our project of bringing together craft-based manufacturers with leading talents from the European design scene, some still looked at us with astonishment, wondering what design and craftspersonship could have in common. Yet this swiftly became one of the festival’s most popular and internationally respected formats. For us, the project continues to be a curated interaction between knowledge transfer, respectful exchange and the spirit of innovation. And, of course, the opportunity to visit workshops and the places in which such innovation takes place also has a special appeal for designers and the public alike. Over the years, a wide variety of projects has emerged: The results range from much-discussed objects, via successful products, to a facilitated handover between generations. We are showing a fraction of these cooperative works in this anniversary exhibition.”– Lilli Hollein

Pop-up Café Caffè vom See in the Festival Headquarters in the Amtshaus Theresienbadgasse

Café, Caffè, Coffee. However you twist and turn it, the pop-up café of the VIENNA DESIGN WEEK is presented this year as a unique blend, a Wiener Melange: The pop-up café – a cooperation between DESIGN EVERYDAY, Vöslauer and Caffè vom See – is equipped with products from practicing local designers, which can be tried out in the relaxed atmosphere of the café. Also on display are large-format prints by the photographer Peter Garmusch, which set the scene for product designs by Vöslauer and by the various designers. With products by Alexander Gufler, Klemens Schillinger, MARCH GUT, POLKA, Robert Rüf and Vandasye. Photographs by Peter Garmusch. Southern lifestyle, an eternal summer retreat. Ducks, swans and other waterfowl calmly making their rounds. All this is Millstatt am See in Meidling (seriously!). With the coffee that they originally produced for their own hotel (Villa Verdin), which combines the robust body of an Italian espresso with the refinement of an Austrian mokka and is produced from 100 % organically-grown Arabica beans, the brothers Michael and Thomas Helml are bringing Carinthian joie de vivre to Vienna's 12th District (and, more specifically, to the Festival Headquarters in the Amtshaus Theresienbadgasse). caffevomsee.at

CAMPAIGN “Digital is better.” (Tocotronic) This year’s graphic design for the festival by Bueronardin plays with forms, colors, and movement. The festival’s digital focus is reflected in moving strips, speech bubbles, messenger bubbles, pop-ups, and responsive movements. The forms represent the exhibits, interpret the design process, and interact with one another and with the public. This year, the “City Full of Design” glows in the colors light pink, ink blue, mars orange, and agate gray.

PROGRAM PARTNERS

Diversity is not only desirable, it’s the goal. The VIENNA DESIGN WEEK has always sought to be a powerful platform for designers, companies and educational and cultural institutions from Vienna, Austria and around the world. This idea has been central to the festival since it was founded and must remain so, especially in such challenging times (even if this has to be in a decidedly decentralized manner). From museums to tiny galleries, from startups to global players, from forgers of new ideas to dyed-in-the-wool Viennese producers and traders, the formats curated by the VIENNA DESIGN WEEK are complemented in an important way by the projects of our Program Partners who make a significant contribution to the festival’s diversity and quality. Firmly embedded in the closely-knit international festival network, these institutions, companies and offices from Austria and abroad will once again make use of the opportunity to present contributions that have been conceived and specially created for the VIENNA DESIGN WEEK and, as a result, jointly demonstrate the breadth of the creative and economic potential of design. The thematically varied program includes exhibitions, lectures and workshops, together with presentations, installations, experiments and more. Thanks to their presence at numerous locations across the city, the Program Partners make Vienna a City Full of Design every year.

STADTARBEIT

A crisis is a crisis is a crisis. As well as highlighting all that is, challenging times also highlight all that is not, all that is missing. Plugging these gaps, both social and physical, is one of the roles of design. Hence, in reacting to COVID-19 and all its long-term consequences, the design sector must demonstrate just how essential design can be as a seismograph and as a driver of and for a dynamic (urban) society. Social design, in particular, offers a range of analytical and activist-transformative methods that are as broad as they are effective in shedding light on and meeting specific needs – for example local solutions. Well before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the VIENNA DESIGN WEEK and Erste Bank, as part of their jointly organized Stadtarbeit format, had called for the submission of projects, ideas and concepts that address vacant and derelict sites and other gaps in the urban grain and develop new approaches to the idea of temporary use in the public realm. Even if we have taken some time to learn this lesson, it is now quite clear that patterns of use in urban space are not non-negotiable constants. The notion of the city is just as flexible and fluid as its reality – and recognizing this opens up great opportunities at a time when societies are being forced to reorganize and reorient themselves. This year, the Erste Bank ExtraVALUE Design Award will be awarded for the sixth time. The winning projects were announced during the press conference of the VIENNA DESIGN WEEK 2020. The prize entitles the winners to participate in and to realize their project during the festival. Both winning projects will receive an implementation budget.“The continued strong interest in the Urban Food & Design challenge is a clear indication of the great need for creative approaches to this topic in particular. The coronavirus crisis has led us to focus more than ever on the questions of how social interaction and togetherness can continue in spite of distancing, how everyone in the city can contribute, and what local production and distribution pathways can be established. With the Urban Food & Design challenge and the event of the same name, we are providing the impetus to explore how this might look in the city of tomorrow.” Elisabeth Noever-Ginthör, Vienna Business Agency.

URBAN FOOD & DESIGN

This year, the VIENNA DESIGN WEEK and the Vienna Business Agency are investigating the groundbreaking area of Urban Food & Design for the third time. The focuses for 2020 are new approaches to living together in the city and the potential of the local in an environment that continues to be shaped by the reality of global markets. The New Local is the slogan that has inspired the creative minds in and around the Festival Headquarters in the Amtshaus Theresienbadgasse to illustrate how the production, distribution and consumption of food can also be organized to be brutally local in the period both during and after COVID-19. The calls of the past two years addressed new sources of food, consumption patterns and forms of delivery. This year’s five selected projects are devoted to subjects such as the sharing economy, the circular economy and social participation. In spring 2020, the VIENNA DESIGN WEEK and the Vienna Business Agency issued a challenge on the subject of Urban Food & Design. The five best concepts amongst all those submitted were selected by an expert jury and are being presented during the festival in the Festival Headquarters.

BRITISH COUNCIL CURATOR IN RESIDENCE: ROSA ROGINA

Curators enable a design event to ask questions and address subjects that go far beyond the reproduction of commercial content. The VIENNA DESIGN WEEK is proud of the fact that, year after year, it is able to provide the framework for a curator commissioned to address the issue of design. It was a particular pleasure to be able to invite applications for a research residency for a curator from the United Kingdom as part of the Design Connections program of the British Council. Having reviewed the many submissions, a jury of experienced experts including the London design curator Jane Withers and the Vienna Studio Vandasye, which put together the DESIGN EVERYDAY exhibition selected Rosa Rogina, who is also Head of Program of the London Festival of Architecture. As part of an intense research process, Rogina is visiting the VIENNA DESIGN WEEK and, alongside her general research into the curatorial potential of design festivals, is investigating ways of making them more democratic and accessible. Or, in the words of the curator herself, “I am delighted to be working with the team at the VIENNA DESIGN WEEK and the British Council on a research project exploring the role of festivals in the city and ways of developing innovative and more democratic methods of research, curation and presentation. In a time of three unprecedented global emergencies – one of COVID-19, one of climate change and another one of protests against racial discrimination – we as curators and festival producers need to step up and creatively and collectively engage with the new social and urban reality.”