Design Fest Gent
The fest(ival) for design in Ghent
The end of April will see the start of Design Fest Gent, a new biennial 10-day festival that offers designers space to present their ground-breaking ideas. By focusing on sustainability in all its facets, Design Fest not only wants to inspire the visitors and residents of Ghent but also challenge them and encourage dialogue.
Design Fest Gent demonstrates what design can (and indeed should) be: inquisitive, experimental and activistic. The festival encourages creativity and will become a matchmaker for new collaborations between designers, knowledge institutions, organizations and the industry. These parties join forces because design is so much more than making objects. Moreover, the aim of Design Fest is not merely to present things but also to focus on creation, experience, meeting, stimulation and amazement.
An extensive range of installations, workshops and lectures are bundled in three content clusters: Look Back, Move Forward and Do Care. Look Back shows projects bringing together craft, tradition and new technology. Move forward focuses on hybrid collaborations between science, design and technology with nature as a blueprint. Do Care gathers designs with a social impact.
The festival showcases a unique selection of existing projects and new creation assignments, which were selected under the supervision of curator Siegrid Demyttenaere in close dialogue with the partners of the festival and six co-curators Christel De Maeyer, Nathalie Goethals, Heleen Sintobin, Unfold: Claire Warnier and Dries Verbruggen, Bram Vanderbeke and Sep Verboom.
> Jo De Baerdemaeker – Typo Belgiëque
Typo Belgiëque breathes new life into Belgium’s historical typeface families – fonts – and previously unknown type foundries – quite literally.
Jo De Baerdemaeker leads a practice-based research project within LUCA School of Arts, Visual Design, that develops a Belgian visual identity with contemporary font technologies. Inspired by historical, typographic printing from roughly 1830 to 1950, old font families are given a new, digital life. The latest font technology guarantees the highest readability and ensures that the fonts can perfectly serve as web and screen typography. There are even whispers that the fresh font creations can give Belgian design studios and publishers just that little bit extra.
Freely accessible with day- or festival ticket
Programme
Design Fest Gent demonstrates what design can (and indeed should) be: inquisitive, experimental and activistic. Not only through presentations, but also through lectures, workshops and encounters. Experience, meeting, stimulation and amazement are central.
Sustainability has many faces, which is why the programme for each day is linked to a theme. See the full programme below. Follow the Design Fest Gent-socials for additional insights.
www.designfestgent.be/en/programme
Tickets
Design Fest Gent takes place from April 22 to May 1 at the emptied Design Museum and at various other locations in the city. The 10-day festival is an initiative of Design Museum Gent, Ministry of Makers, Ghent University, KASK & Conservatorium (HOGENT - Howest), LUCA | School of Arts, Arteveldehogeschool, KU Leuven Faculty of Architecture, Industriemuseum en Flanders DC.
Tickets are available as day pass or 10-day pass. Through this link you will be redirected to the ticketing page of Design Museum Gent.
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