Guest Country Europe

The European project is a design task. Many of the challenges facing the EU can also be observed and addressed from the design perspective. In other words, issues such as sustainability, digitalization, the creation of inclusive identities, the encouragement of interdisciplinary and cross-border cooperation, and the establishment of participative processes are not only core tasks of the European Union, but also the areas of activity of many designers.

This clearly explains why this year’s Guest Country of the VIENNA DESIGN WEEK is not, as usual, a single nation and its design scene but, rather, an entire multinational cooperative project. Supported by the Federal Chancellery in the context of the Conference on the Future of Europe, the 2021 format asks what the EU can do for the creative industries and what the creative industries can do for the EU. In order to get closer to the challenges and opportunities of European cooperation, the design scene and the festival public are invited to visit the EU Village Square in the Festival Headquarters on Sachsenplatz, designed by auf’strich and studiotut. There, the complex context surrounding this subject will be summed up, prepared in an easily accessible manner, and jointly discussed.