open set
dutch graphic design
summer school
26.07 — 08.08.2015
rotterdam
4th edition
theme 2015
designing experiences
moment, stage, memory
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Open Set is a two-week summer event directed towards young graphic designers, creators, thinkers and
innovators. Our goal is to promote and enhance the social value of design by facilitating debates around the
chosen theme from a rich diversity of perspectives, design traditions and socially engaged cultural practices.
We advocate for design which equally can have a tangible shape as well as being a hidden process, but always
remains powerful enough to make an innovative change. The event aims to offer our participants a studio
environment where they are inspired to step out of their comfort zone and question the conventional ways of
working, experiment with different strategies, techniques, ideas and cross-sector collaborations in order to
develop their own practices with confidence.
experience: moment, stage, memory
The Open Set 2015 edition under the theme ‘Experience: Moment, Stage, Memory’ examines creative
strategies of staging new experiences and their capability to provoke and influence the construction of individual
and collective identities.
Experience may be appropriated as a product by itself or a tool to manipulate society by influencing the actions
and choices of the masses. This term can be understood also as a facilitator helping to distinguish the value
of an individual experience from the established behavioural patterns. In other words new experience can
stimulate a sense of individual (self) recognition, as well as collective belonging. It acts as provocateur to spark
critical and creative thinking and making, and is an essential instrument towards social innovation. These two
opposite effects of staged experiences can be equally observed in visual communication and cultural practices,
education, urban planning, economical and marketing strategies, all being supported by fast technological
growth.
The focus of the Open Set 2015, is to look at the design discipline as an experiential one within the larger
cultural context. During these two weeks, the international group of participants will reflect on the ethics and
experiment with the strategies of how to stage new experiences (moments) and incorporate them in the
gathered and shared experiences (memories) of the community. The program identifies four inter-related angles
of research: Body, Environment, Interaction and Medium.
tutors & speakers
This year we invite designers, artists and researchers to contribute to the event with simultaneous workshops,
public interventions, film-screenings and lectures, representing various kinds of expertise as: graphic, interactive
and critical design, curating, participatory design and art.
Max Bruinsma
Florian Cramer
Martijn Engelbregt
Prem Krishnamurthy (Project Projects, USA)
Anab Jain (Superflux, UK)
Els Kuijpers
Bruno Listopad
Jan van Toorn
more to be announced...
location
Open Set is hosted by Kunstblock Rotterdam , – a cooperation between different cultural institutions located
on the Witte de Withstraat (Showroom MAMA, Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art, TENT, WORM,
V2_Institute, CBK Rotterdam).
What these institutions have in common is that they all are focusing on the contemporary cultural debate
in relation to social realities, and at the same time, focusing on completely different mediums, means of
production, professional networks and target audiences. Using art and culture, Kunstblock aims to make new
connections on both Witte de With street, municipal, national as well as international levels, engage various
interest groups with the street and contribute to the street’s extraordinary character.
previous editions
For a visual resume of the past editions, check our Flickr page.
Catalogue open set 2012 – utopia (digital version)
Catalogue open set 2013 – commonomy (digital version)
Catalogue open set 2014 – social game (digital version)
During the last three editions we were honored to host workshops by 31 tutors, including: design critic
Max Bruinsma, designers Thomas Castro (Studio Lust), Annelys de Vet, Daniel Gross and Joris Maltha
(Catalogtree), Liza Enebeis and Erik de Vlaam (Studio Dumbar), Andy Altmann (UK), Jonathan Barnbrook (UK),
Andreas Gysin (CH), Karin Langeveld and Cuby Gerards (Trapped in Suburbia), Jan van Toorn, artists Martijn
Engelbregt, Jeanne van Heeswijk, Christian Nyampeta (UK), curatorial duo Latitudes (UK-ES), and researcher
Karel van der Waarde. We also had lectures devised by: art historian Els Kuijpers, Marleen Sticker – Director
and founder of Waag Society, Binna Choi – Director of Casco, Wilfried Hou Je Bek, and Geert Lovink – Director
of the Institute of Network Cultures.
For more informations about the Open Set dutch graphic design summer school :
www.openset.nl
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contact : [email protected]
Open Set 2015 is made possible with the generously support of Creative Industries Fund NL
and Kunstblock Rotterdam.