Two events in the context of the fifth anniversary of What Design Can Do

Amsterdam, April 17, 2015 - The Stedelijk Museum presents What Design Can Do, an exhibition celebrating the fifth anniversary of the eponymous international design platform. Five designers and design studios showcase projects that reflect the mission of What Design Can Do: to share the potency of creativity and design with a broad audience. The exhibition reveals how design – from architecture, industrial design, bio design, to food design and graphic design – can inspire social change.

The participating designers, Studio Dror, the Campana brothers, Rogier Klomp, Daisy Ginsberg and Bompas&Parr, will be or have been speakers at the annual two-day conference of What Design Can Do in Amsterdam. For the exhibition at the Stedelijk, some of the designers exhibit projects discussed during the conference, while others present more recent work.

About the designers

Studio Dror
Dror Benshetrit designs products, interiors and architecture from his studio in New York. He is presenting the QuaDror (2006), a modular construction element. Dror originally designed the QuaDror as an aesthetic object, but the construction proved so robust and versatile that it for example can be used as a trestle, relief housing or a soundproof wall. The presentation looks at the numerous possible ways of using theQuaDror, including using the design as an A-frame which also doubles an open cabinet.
 
The Campana brothers
The Brazilian Campana brothers, product and furniture designers, are represented by designs that unite seemingly conflicting aspects of hand-crafting and modern production methods. The brothers prefer to use inexpensive, everyday materials, finding inspiration in Brazilian culture and their home base, São Paulo.
 
Rogier Klomp
The Dutch journalist and illustrator Rogier Klomp presents his project Big Data: the Shell Search. In 2013, the Dutch broadcasting company VPRO aired the film in the series Tegenlicht. In the documentary, Klomp and filmmaker Shuchen Tan, explain how researching large amounts of digital data, and visualizing the research results, can make revolutionary forms of journalism possible.

Daisy Ginsberg
The English designer and artist Daisy Ginsberg will present Designing for the Sixth Extinction (2013). With this project, Ginsberg explores the potential impact of synthetic biology on biodiversity and nature conservation. Ginsberg believes that, through man’s drastic influence on the world, we are facing the sixth wave of extinction, and asks what wild life and nature will look like in a future designed by synthetic biologists.

Bompas&Parr
The British food designers Bompas&Parr are represented by their Kepler’s Platonic Planetary Bar, an all-round sensory experience which has its inaugural opening during the Public Program Taste It!

Public Program

In conjunction with the exhibition, the Public Program of the Stedelijk Museum is staging the event Taste It! What Design Can Do on May 21. In a society dominated by visual impulses, there seems to be little room for other sensory experiences. That’s all about to change: the Public Program plans to discover what design can do for our taste buds. In a temporary pavilion beneath the canopy of the Stedelijk, top-chef Alex Atala will serve a selection of haute cuisine meals and refreshments. Atala’s multi-sensory dinner will be prepared with authentic Brazilian ingredients.
 
The British food designers Bompas&Parr will present their Kepler’s Platonic Planetary Bar: a sight, taste and sound experience to titillate your senses. The design of their cocktail bar is based on the ground-breaking model of the cosmos that was first published by Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) in 1596. Visitors sample a range of cocktails, while being immersed in a soundscape designed especially for the bar. With this, Bompas&Parr investigate how sound affects our taste experience. After the event on Museumplein, the bar will be installed as a part of the exhibition.

About What Design Can Do

What Design Can Do was launched in 2011 by designers working in different disciplines. The platform aims to show that design can be a force for social change and challenges the direction society is taking. Each year, the platform organizes a two-day conference. This year, it will be held on May 21 and 22 at the Stadsschouwburg in Amsterdam. What Design Can Do can also be found online and at workshops, exhibitions and film festivals.

Taste It! What Design Can Do has been made possible with the support of WeTransfer and Stokroos.