Design can tell far more about people than their personal taste. It is a way to perceive and adapt to the world. This happens on a private level as well as in communities to construct identities to separate them from others. Design as material culture can be read as a signature of underlying political, economic, and social systems. In times of growing social uncertainty, design also has to raise questions that consider how we live together or offer solutions to problems.

After his introduction, Deyan Sudjic will talk to Ineke Hans, Lilli Hollein, and Nicolaus Schafhausen (curator of the exhibition “How To Live Together”) about everyday objects as well as identity constructions and concepts of community building. Different forms of national representation and the imagery of certain social groups will be discussed, as well as changes to urban environments, the increasing mobility and digitization of our present times.

Ineke Hans studied product design and furniture design in Arnhem and London. In 1998, she founded her first design studio in Arnhem, the Netherlands. In 2015, she founded her studio|salon in London, where, together with other people involved in the field of design (designers, theoreticians, manufacturers, curators, and retailers), she explores the future of design as well as the changing position of the designer. She lives and works in London and Arnhem.

Lilli Hollein is director and co-founder of the VIENNA DESIGN WEEK and an expert on design and architecture. Since 1996, she has published articles in international specialist publications and was a curator for the contribution of Austria to the 7th International Architecture Biennale São Paulo. From 2010 to 2013, she was chairwoman of the jury of KÖR – Kunst im öffentlichen Raum Vienna and since 2016, she has been chairwoman of ADN – Austria Design Net. She studied industrial design at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna.

Nicolaus Schafhausen is director of Kunsthalle Wien. He served as artistic director of the Künstlerhaus Stuttgart, and as director of the Frankfurter Kunstverein. He was curator at the Nordic Institute for Contemporary Art in Helsinki (NIFCA) and the founding director of the European Kunsthalle. From 2006 to 2012, he was the director of Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art in Rotterdam. Since 2011, he is the strategic director of Fogo Island Arts, an initiative of the Canadian Shorefast Foundation.

Deyan Sudjic is director of the Design Museum in London. His career has spanned journalism, teaching, and writing. Sudjic was director of Glasgow UK City of Architecture 1999 and in 2002, he was director of the Venice Architecture Biennale. He was editor of Domus Magazine from 2000 to 2004, and was founding editor of Blueprint Magazine from 1983 to 1996. Sudjic has published many books on design and architecture. His most recent book, “The Language of Cities”, was published in October 2016.

Exhibition until 12.11.