6th Design Triënnal «Belgium is Design. Design for Mankind»

The sixth design triennial “Belgium is Design. Design for Mankind”, an initiative of Design Vlaanderen (Flanders Design), has been invited to participate in the exhibition programme being organised to celebrate the bicentenary of Site du Grand- Hornu. The triennial will take place from 21 November 2010 to 27 February 2011.

Design Vlaanderen and Grand-Hornu Images are continuing their fruitful cooperation that began five years on the 175th anniversary of Belgium with an exhibition called “Label-design.be, Design in Belgium After 2000”. That exhibition highlighted the strong history of design in Belgium by putting Belgian designers and design studios on the map for the first time.

The theme of the sixth triennial is the social significance of design. The exhibition will neither present an inventory nor show the latest products, but will instead examine how the impact of design on mankind’s fundamental needs can influence the lifestyle of ordinary people. There will be a focus on such concepts as “service design”, “social design” and “user-centred design” and also on sustainability and quality of life.

Stefan Schöning, 2008 designer of the year, was engaged for the scenography of the triennial.

For the triennial, Photographer Malou Swinnen made the series “Perform the corpus”.

To mark this sixth triennial, publishers Stichting Kunstboek will publish a richly illustrated book, beautifully designed by graphical designer Raf Thienpont, featuring numerous essays and product descriptions.

100 projects/10 values for mankind

All designers and design studios that designed the 100 products selected for the exhibition are based in Belgium. We chose the products for what we consider their significant human values, of which we defined 10. The ten values refer to essential needs of mankind: emotion, environmental awareness, efficiency, convenience, intimacy, playfulness, mobility, safety, tradition and community.

Design, a gradation of values

The exhibition will highlight via the products how these values define people and their customs and surroundings.

At this sixth triennial “Belgium is Design. Design for Mankind” we will strive to convey to the public at large some strong experiences and sensations, such as relationships with the environment and society (services provided to individuals or groups), knowledge transfer, welfare and technological progress that serves mankind.

Save the date: Press preview on 20 November 2010

Organisers: Johan Valcke, Director of Design Vlaanderen, part of Agentschap Ondernemen, in association with Françoise Foulon, Director of Grand-Hornu Images

Exhibition curator: Lise Coirier, Pro Materia asbl

Public opening: Sunday 21 November 2010
(free entrance and guided tours from 10:00 to 18:00 hrs)