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The Arena 2016

The Arena was introduced as part of the Graduation Show in 2016. It had become evident that many of the designers taking part in the Gradation Show were no longer focussed on creating static objects. Investigative methods related to research, journalism and institutional critique were increasingly visible in the graduates’ projects. Performance was being used to communicate the final ideas of some designers, but had also become a key strategic tool to drive ongoing design processes and was becoming a strong feature within the Graduate Show. The Arena was conceived as a space for students to explore alternate forms of expression and of design. Graduates were invited to use the space as a place to communicate the stories behind design using performance, film, debate and presentation.

The programme was in the style of a PechaKucha, with non-stop daily programming of short performances, films, debates and presentations. Even in its first year, The Arena secured prominent international speakers to discuss key topics that emerged in student work, sharing the stage with the graduates, heads and tutors.

SELECTED CONTENT

Graduate Isabel Mager presented her stacks of Kapton tape, the remnants of the repetitive actions undertaken by otherwise invisible factory workers. She invited audience members to work on her ‘Kapton tape mountain’ while she was presented her in-depth research into high-tech production facilities and their working conditions.

Olle Lundin created a performance based on his analysis of fashion photography, resulting in a series of poses that revealed the norms, ideals and invisible expectations inherent in the visual language of fashion advertising. With a soundtrack of camera clicks and severe instructions by photographers to manoeuvre the body into a more “perfect" pose, he offered a sardonic take on the contortions of the body.

Roundtable discussions included Queering Design, with a panel consisting of graduates Olle Lundin, Isabel Mager, Renee Mes, Floriane Missilin, Josh Wolford, and moderated by DAE alumnus, De__sign(er) and Queer thinker Gabriel Maher. What are we ‘In Need Of …’? featured a panel of Alex Coles, Julie Lasky, Paul Makovsky, Martijn Paulen from Dutch Design Week, and David Hamers and was moderated by Nathan de Grote. This roundtable asked how young designers can survive in a world with an over-abundance of things.

The panel How to Reshape Asian Creativity in a European Context featured Ole Bouman alongside graduates Jing Hie, Chen Jhen, Yun Tian and alumnus Yaolan (Violet) Luo. Moderated by Christine de Baan, it examined how Chinese students respond to the focus on self-initiated work within DAE after experiencing a secondary education that tends more towards an emphasis on a collective pursuit.

In Design and Museums: what works, what doesn’t? Jan Boelen, artistic director Z33 and head of the Social Design MA was joined by Catelijne van Middelkoop, head of Man and Communication at DAE and professor of Visual Communication Design, TU Delft, and Studio Drift co-founder Ralph Nauta to assess two pitches by DAE alumnus Simone Post and graduate Filip Setmanuk for a museum context. The discussion explored the constraints facing the museum and what curators look for in a project.

Finally, Jacques Maas, a gynaecologist at Máxima Medisch Centrum, and Ad van Oostrum (GGzE) joined four DAE Graduates on The Arena stage: Naomi Jansen, Michèle Degen, Pleun van Dijk, and Hannah Lutterveld. The roundtable conversation was moderated by Danielle Arets, associate reader, DAE, and titled From Sex to Pregnancy in the Health Industry. The Woman-Mother-Child Centre of Máxima Medisch Centrum has been working with DAE since 2015. DAE’s Man and Leisure students tackled interior and routing issues with them, but also questions about pregnancy diets, shame, cultural differences surrounding sex, and the strive for post-partum physical perfection. This discussion focussed on the students’ projects and how they were received by the professionals.

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