Ingeborg de roode on Solution or utopia? design for refugees

During the two weeks following the opening of Solution or Utopia? Design for Refugees?, the Stedelijk Museum organizes a gallery talk by curator industrial design Ingeborg de Roode (Stedelijk Museum). The Stedelijk is mounting the exhibition and public program to create a platform where questions such as the following can be discussed: how can designers, architects and companies have a meaningful impact on the lives of refugees? What works and what doesn’t? Does a design offer a feasible, workable solution, or is it a far-off utopian dream?

MORE ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

The exhibition Solution or Utopia? Design for Refugees is curated on two locations: along the Stedelijk Museum location, part of the exhibition is shown at Lola Lik, the breeding ground for artistic creation located at the asylum seekers center in the old Bijlmerbajes in Amsterdam. The Stedelijk Museum presents almost 50 recent initiatives designed to improve the temporary situations faced by refugees. One of the designers’ central challenges was to devise practical, real-life solutions. From clothing that can double as a tent, to improved signage in a refugee camp, and from linkable plastic floor sections for temporary shelters to a digital service that helps refugees navigate their new environment. At the old Bijlmerbajes, design projects are presented that have been developed in cooperation with refugees.

MORE ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Ingeborg de Roode has been the curator industrial design at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam since 2001 and is currently the curator of the exhibition Solution or Utopia? with co-curator Jeanette Bisschops. For the Stedelijk Museum she has organized many exhibitions, such as the recent presentation Living in the Amsterdam School (2016) and Marcel Wanders Pinned Up: 25 Years of Design (2014). For the reopening of the museum in 2012, she co-curated and developed the well-received design collection presentation with two colleagues.