Design Campus 2024 and WaterSchool: A Speculation in Four Seasons
Exhibition and call for applications for Summer School
Wermsdorf 04779
Germany
In the battle against water scarcity and for sustainable water management, Studio Makkink & Bey has spearheaded a global initiative called WaterSchool. Tailored to specific contexts worldwide, WaterSchool is a design research project exploring the creation of holistic educational spaces centered on water as a vital material and social, economic, and political phenomenon.
Excitingly, the next WaterSchool will join forces with the DESIGN CAMPUS, the reasearch and development platform of the Kunstgewerbemuseum at Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden (State Art Collection Dresden). Renowned Dutch designers Rianne Makkink and Jurgen Bey, founders of Studio Makkink & Bey, will lead the charge as this year’s heads of the Summer School 2024 and curators of the main exhibition WaterSchool: A Speculation in Four Seasons (May 26–October 13, 2024). Breaking new ground, the DESIGN CAMPUS will host the exhibition and Summer School at Schloss Hubertusburg in Wermsdorf, a thrilling departure from its traditional location in Dresden. This move underscores the commitment of the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden to outreach and mobility, decentralizing culture and challenging the rural vs. urban divide inherent in our society. Both will examine the castle and its surroundings in terms of its potential for better living in rural areas. The element of water plays a central role as an indicator for the sustainable use of resources and, based on this, considerations for a regionally shaped circular economy in the rhythm of the four seasons.
In the past, WaterSchools primarily manifested as exhibitions. However, this year, it transforms into a comprehensive educational program, integrated with the DESIGN CAMPUS Summer School. This shift turns the school into both a learning and production landscape. The WaterSchool promotes and teaches environmentally friendly lifestyles and practices, with the main exhibition serving as a learning environment for visitors and Summer School participants alike. It aims to cultivate a community of designers, makers, artists, and local partners connected through the WaterSchool and Hubertusburg, fostering an environment where speculative ideas for the future flourish.
Through a series of workshops, exhibition visits, and lectures, participants will collaborate as a creative collective, exploring innovative concepts and pushing the boundaries of sustainable living and water management. The focus extends beyond mere solutions, encouraging an imaginative dialogue that paves the way for an environmentally conscious future.
Registration for the Summer School at Schloss Hubertusburg is now open! Join Studio Makkink & Bey and an inspiring lineup of international tutors, including Prensent by Nature (Netherlands), Jacques Abelman (USA/France/Netherlands), chmara.rosinke (Poland/Germany), ERBA (Austria/Netherlands), Raumlabor Berlin (Germany), and more, to explore innovative concepts for a sustainable future. Visit our website for more details and to apply.
About Studio Makkink & Bey
Founded in Rotterdam in 2002 by Rianne Makkink and Jurgen Bey, the collaborative studio Makkink & Bey, has a strategic approach to design. They operate across various domains of applied art, encompassing public space projects, product design, architecture, exhibition design, and applied arts.
The WaterSchool is a self-initiated project by Studio Makkink & Bey. Their speculative school, organized around water as an essential resource and as a social and political phenomenon, proposes a rethinking of the existing economic and infrastructural model of education.
About the Design Campus
The Design Campus is the think tank as well as the research and development platform of the Kunstgewerbemuseum which is part of the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden (State Art Collection Dresden). Through its four pillars the Museum, the School, the Lab, and the Network, the Design Campus is a space for recalibration and empowerment of creative practitioners to take action on the many changes, challenges and uncertainties of the 21st century.
The yearly Summer School is relevant to both the museum, its future projects, and to the world’s society. Each year, as part of its Summer School program, the Design Campus offers a series of workshops, led by world-renowned creative professionals.
Who can apply: Curious, restless, creative, fearless, social, collaborative, interested, engaged and/or inquisitive designers, architects, artists, scientists, curators, journalists, engineers, developers, photographers, filmmakers, skilled students, recent graduates, young-professionals and/or open-minded people are welcome!
Why: Great chance to think and dream big, with like-minded people, learn new skills, get involved in future projects in the museum, its environments, and its network, and perhaps change the world by design.
How: Sign up now for each workshop in the period between May 26 and October 13, 2024 here.
