For the section titled Benches, curator and NDD Design's art director Hu You-tsung (胡佑宗) invited 50 designers from different fields to build up design vocabularies unique to the country's cultural and social milieus by endowing the traditional bench with contemporary significance and function. The collection of works, some decorative and conceptual and some functional, are all expressive of Taiwan's collective memory and cultural consciousness.
"Such projects present a much needed channel for local designers to exercise their creativity, exchange ideas or simply have fun. And I believe something significant will happen naturally along the way," said Hu, adding that the project will continue to call on 50 designers each year to put their creative energies into action on selected topics.
The event's most ambitious exhibition, City Yeast, is a conceptual presentation of the ongoing five-year urban design project initiated by Agua Design (水越設計). Gathering together over 400 ideas from creative professionals such as poets, writers, filmmakers, architects, and fashion, graphic and industrial designers, the plan is to make the city a more interesting place to live and facilitate an emotional bond between the concrete jungle and its inhabitants.
If the artists' visions can be actualized, people will soon enjoy a city where urban voyagers can stay in camp rentals, tourists can take Polaroid snap shots from mailboxes and mail them to friends and families right away and walk on beautifully designed zebra crossings or under plant-covered streetlamps that also provide shade.
For those interested in taking a closer look at how design works, open house days from July 2 to July 4 will demonstrate the behind-the-scenes magic of design through workshops at nine top studios such as Acer and Asus. As each studio can only take up to 20 visitors, potential participants are encouraged to sign up at the Eslite bookstore without delay.
FOR YOUR INFORMATION
What: Taiwan Designers' Week 2007
When: Today through July 4
Where: Main exhibition at Eslite Bookstore, Xinyi Branch (誠品信義店), 11 Songgao Rd, Taipei (台北市松高路11號). Fringe exhibitions are scattered at nine design and art spaces in the city. For more information, visit designersweek.tw
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