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The Arena 2017

The second edition of The Arena was positioned as a resting space within the Graduation Exhibition, with a coffee bar and resting opportunities for weary visitors. The space was also filled with presentations, performances and debates, with stools and benches forming an unruly and creative atmosphere and a flexible set-up, inviting designers and audience to connect through the topics presented on stage.

Learning from the previous year, the team introduced a focus on key themes that were identified among the student projects in the exhibition, adding specific debates to the programme and creating a schedule of presentations, performances and happenings.

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Among the most anticipated sessions in the Arena was a conversation between Charles Esche, director of the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven, and Design Academy Eindhoven’s new creative director Joseph Grima. During their talk, the duo explored the intersections between art, architecture and design.

Grima was also a panellist at the roundtable discussion titled Post-labour Futures in a New Age of Automation, with Sven Nyholm, professor Philosophy & Ethics from Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e), and graduates Erik Vlemmix, Henrique Nascimento, Ottonie Roeder, Marie Caye & Arvid Jense.

The roundtable discussion Alternate Societies explored potential futures of the city based on three projects. How should we be approaching the changes we are facing in the fields of politics, labour and technology? The panel included Lorenzo Goudsmits, program secretary of Smart Society, head of the BA Man and Media Catelijne van Middelkoop, and graduates Jonas Ersland, Luca Claessens and Martina Huynh and was moderated by Emma Lucek

Visitors to The Arena could experience the potential of Fluid Politics, a performance intervention by Martina Huynh exploring the social dynamics of interacting with strangers on political topics in a speculative future. Dorota Gazy also used the space to display performance, presenting her project Court Dance, a method for gaining new insights into the relationship between perpetrators and victims in the system of justice.

Another presentation came from Philipp Kolmann, with Therianthopie, a project that examines contemporary hygiene behaviours through soaps that make people smell like animals.

Ophelia Ford-Welman presented her take on teaching with Languages of Learning, a project that sought to challenge outdated teaching methods and accommodate different learning needs, by combining movement, visuals and storytelling.

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