Bellagio Design Symposium: Call for Participation

Reasons Not to Be Pretty: Symposium on Design, Social Change and the “Museum”

Curated by William Drenttel and Julie Lasky
Moderated by Allan Chochinov

Introduction
Winterhouse Institute, the organization co-founded by William Drenttel, is hosting a Spring 2010 symposium at the Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Center in northern Italy, near Milan, that will bring together the world’s top design and museum curators, critics and organizers of successful exhibitions on design and social change. The goal is to foster collaboration and collective action among the participants to utilize the power of design to help solve large social problems, and to galvanize the global design community to engage in projects that promote social change. Museums, and similar institutions that exhibit and champion design innovation, are critical players in this global design community, and this gathering will be a first-time meeting of such players from around the world.

Reasons Not to Be Pretty: Symposium on Design, Social Change and the “Museum” is scheduled for Monday evening, April 12, through Wednesday evening, April 14, 2010. (The timing and location is for the convenience of participants who plan to attend the International Furniture Fair in Milan, April 14–19.) Limited to 21 participants by invitation only, the symposium will include representatives from eleven countries, and a range of institutions and organizations: Art Institute of Chicago, Biennale de Dakar, Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, Core77, Design Indaba, Design Museum, Design Museum Holon, Design Observer, Doors of Perception, INDEX:, Brazilian Design Biennial, Museum of Arts and Design, Museum of Modern Art, Prince Claus Fund, Royal College of Art and Walker Art Center. A key aim of the symposium is to build partnerships between curators and participants who are knowledgeable and committed to social change as an exhibition subject.

Program
The event will allow for direct, detailed exchanges on four themes:
• How to make a compelling presentation of design and social change, a topic that may be challenging and involve objects that may not meet the traditional standards of art and design institutions. Included will be discussion of the forms that the artifacts of social change take (interventions, campaigns, provocations, advocacy, activism), and how exhibiting these artifacts resembles and differs from the presentation of more conventional forms.
• How to acquire and preserve the contents of exhibitions on design and social change — both visual and nonvisual embodiments of ideas, initiatives and interventions. Here, there will be consideration of “exhibitions” beyond the museum, including those using technology and social media.
• How to extend the messages of such exhibitions to a variety of local venues and communities as well as to global audiences. Here we will discuss new opportunities for the museum environs, outreach programs, internet and education programs.
• Determining issues and themes that merit exploration for future exhibitions.

Participants
Jimena Acosta Romero, independent curator and journalist, Mexico City
Paola Antonelli, senior curator, Museum of Modern Art, New York
Andrew Blauvelt, design director, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis
Adélia Borges, chief curator, Brazilian Design Biennial, São Paulo
Nadine Botha, editor, Design Indaba, Cape Town
Ashoke Chatterjee, former director, National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad
Allan Chochinov, partner, Core77, New York
William Drenttel, editorial director, Winterhouse Institute, Connecticut
Galit Gaon, director, Design Museum Holon, Israel
Jamer Hunt, director, Interdisciplinary Graduate Initiatives, Parsons New School, New York
Niels Jarler, curator, INDEX:Award Exhibition, Copenhagen
Julie Lasky, editor, Winterhouse Institute, New York
Jeremy Myerson, director, Helen Hamlyn Centre, Royal College of Art, London
Alex Newson, curator, Design Museum, London
Jogi Panghaal, independent designer and educator, India
Kiran Sethi, founder, Riverside School and Design for Change, Ahmedabad
Cynthia Smith, curator, Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, New York
John Thackara, founder, Doors of Perception, Netherlands and France
Paul Thompson, rector, Royal College of Art, London
Els Van der Plas, director, Prince Claus Fund for Culture & Development, Amsterdam
Jane Withers, design consultant, curator and writer, London

Background
This symposium is a part of Winterhouse Institute’s work funded by the Rockefeller Foundation in the zone of design and social innovation. The symposium proceedings will be published on Change Observer, the Rockefeller Foundation–funded website devoted to design and social innovation. Change Observer is a channel of Design Observer, the
critically acclaimed website focused on design and visual culture.

Winterhouse Institute acts as catalyst, coordinator and champion of an initiative in the public sphere to develop collective action and collaboration for social impact across the design industry; it also creates communication platforms for conferences and gatherings, including an editorial website to monitor and report on developments. Funding for this work is through the Rockefeller Foundation. William Drenttel directs the Winterhouse Institute and is editorial director of Design Observer.

Further Information
William Drenttel, Winterhouse Institute
[email protected]
Julie Lasky, Winterhouse Institute
[email protected]