Dubai Design Week 2020 is different from all its precedents. Adapting to new realities and current shifts, this year’s edition will be addressing the role and responsibilities of designers, creatives and creative industry stakeholders in redefining the way we live in the near and distant future. We are already witnessing a collective creative response in solving crisis and we would like to amplify this response by encouraging designers to present ideas and proposals that will contribute in re-imaging traditional processes and approaches for a better shared and fair future.
Themes related to the locality, collective work, future imagining and sharing of public space under physical and mobility restrictions are put forward in this year’s edition for designers and creatives to investigate.
The highlights of this year’s programme include the 2020 Abwab Pavilion presented by the winner of the first Abwab Open Call, Iraqi designer Hozan Zangana in collaboration with Generous Studio and Woodcast Designs, the UAE Designer Exhibition introducing the works of 20 emergent designers based in the UAE and representing the current local creative production, a d3 business partners dedicated capsule exhibition d3 Edit featuring key design brands, a series of outdoor installations proposing ideas for the future of public spaces as well as a curated hybrid talks programme featuring local and international design experts unpacking the role of design in future-making.
Downtown Design the region’s leading design fair, comes back with a revamped edition tailored for this year’s specificities and bringing the design community together across physical as well as digital platforms.
Another key component of Dubai Design Week’s programme in d3 is the inaugural edition of MENA Grad Show, exhibiting graduate projects focused on social impact innovation in the fields of technology, science and design and featuring projects chosen from over 200 submissions from 35+ universities based in the Middle East and North Africa.
The first-ever architectural festival in Dubai, the d3 Architecture Festival 2020 in partnership with RIBA Gulf Chapter under the theme ‘Identity, Context and Placemaking in the Gulf’ will kick off with an opening reception in Dubai Design District (d3) on 11 November.