Cross-Border Cooperation between Design Institutions Transitioning to the Digital Age
At the beginning of the year, the MAK FUTURE LAB introduces the cross-border project “Design and Innovation,” whose aim is to create a Slovak–Austrian research cooperation between leading institutions of design and applied art in Bratislava and Vienna, with the goal of exploring contemporary design strategies.
The newly conceived MAK DESIGN LAB takes a holistic approach to this theme complex: objects from historical collections and contemporary artefacts produced by local and international designers enter into intensive dialogue, exploring—through this trans-disciplinary, trans-epochal approach—both design’s potential and the transformation it is currently undergoing.
Within the framework of the project, the Slovak Design Center is founding a research and development lab—a new department whose preliminary tasks include the creation of a materials library and the innovative, multi-medial presentation of objects from collections. Accompanying the project, the VŠVU (Academy of Fine Arts and Design, Bratislava) and Die Angewandte (University of Applied Arts Vienna) are offering their students a research-oriented specialization. From the beginning, young academics and artists will thus enter into dialog with experts participating in the project.
To kick off the project, the following panel members discuss the synergetic yet critically reflective relationship between design and innovation:
Vlasta Kubušová, crafting plastics studio (Bratislava/Berlin) Ruth Mateus-Berr, die Angewandte – University of Applied Arts Vienna, Institute of Arts and Society, Social Design mischer’traxler studio (Vienna), designer duo and VIENNA BIENNALE 2019 curators Mária Rišková, Director Slovak Design Center (Bratislava)
Moderator: Christoph Thun-Hohenstein
Project partners: SCD – Slovak Design Center, Bratislava, MAK – Austrian Museum of Applied Arts / Contemporary Art, Vienna, VŠVU – Academy of Fine Arts and Design, Bratislava, die Angewandte – University of Applied Arts Vienna
The new research cooperation receives support within the framework of the EU program INTERREG V-A Slovakia–Austria.
More information: MAK – Österreichisches Museum für angewandte Kunst / Gegenwartskunst
