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World Design Capital Valencia 2022 will attend the forthcoming Madrid Design Festival with “Valencia Pavilion. The future is design”, an exhibition to project the future and the avant-garde nature of Valencian design. Designed by MUT Design and curated by Estudio Savage, this show celebrates the selection of Valencia as World Design Capital 2022 with the creative fabric of the whole country, on the first of many dates in the international design calendar. An exhibition organized in collaboration with IVACE Internacional and Valencia’s Town Hall.
“Valencia Pavilion. The future is design” provides an avant-garde view of industrial and artisan product manufacturing, looking in depth at the archaeology of the future and setting out to establish the foundations for tomorrow’s world, on the understanding that the future will benefit from the long road that has already been travelled, and the ability to integrate a wide variety of disciplines.
The exhibition can be visited in the Chapel Hall of the Fernán Gómez Cultural Centre, between 9 February and 14 March 2021, within the setting of a new edition of the consolidated Madrid Design Festival.
An exhibition to inspire the future of design and creation
This approach to the future of creation is set out in five categories: the circular economy, contemporary craftsmanship, design focused on the transformative economy, the line between art and design, and technology.
The selection curated by Estudio Savage (which specialises in research and experimentation in the field of contemporary craftsmanship) focuses not so much on the form or purpose of the different projects selected, but rather on the ideas behind them and their social and economic impact.
5 categories, 5 episodes that narrate and document the plurality of Mediterranean design, as economic spearheads and as transformative ideas that look towards society.
“Because bringing the future forward means walking towards problem-solving, accepting constant uncertainty and promoting evolution. This is the usual task of those who dedicate their lives to design. We want to contribute with this Mediterranean look that has placed us at the forefront of creation for decades, taking the opportunity, moreover, to inspire a more sustainable future,” explains Xavi Calvo, director of World Design Capital Valencia 2022.
Therefore, with “Valencia Pavilion. The future is design” the aim is to tell the world abut the most avant-garde actions with real, tangible and current examples that can inspire and help define the future of design. The exhibition seeks balance and understanding between age-old practices and products that are ahead of our time.
“We have uncovered the humanist transversal nature of Valencian design that pervades all sectors, the oscillation between traditional craftsmanship and new technologies, between the tangible and intangible, between function and emotion. This exhibition represents an anatomy of society through design, summarised in 5 episodes. All have a common denominator, the quality of life in the Valencian region,” says Adrián Salvador, founder and creative director of Estudio Savage.
Exhibition design
Designed by the internationally renowned studio MUT Design, the elements included in the exhibition create and define the space, as a modular pavilion configured from sustainable, locally sourced and ecological materials, which play a key role in the history of architecture and design made in Valencia.
It consists of small pavilions that, by way of modules, form a flexible configuration, which will be transformed in the different spaces to which the exhibition travels during 2021 and 2022.
Covering 500 m2, the exhibition system constantly seeks to make a great visual impact, using attractive contemporary architectural shapes, deeply rooted in the popular cultural imagery of Valencia, to launch a heartfelt message.
“We want to generate experiences through shapes, lights, sounds and the different visual effects. We want to enfold the visitor with curved elements, which already form part of the identity of our studio. We have focused on creating hypnotic and enveloping sensations all along the route through the exhibition,” affirms Alberto Sánchez, founder and creative director of MUT Design.
With this almost labyrinthine itinerary, design does not adapt to the space; rather the space itself adapts to design.
The aim is to tell the world abut the most avant-garde actions with real, tangible and current examples that can inspire and help define the future of design.
Projects present at the exhibition
The exhibition highlights the role of the Mediterranean region as an area of ideas and design and, moreover, of manufacturing, with excellent quality standards, since it is home to a considerable industrial fabric, comprising sectors such as textiles, footwear, furniture, ceramics, and the graphics industries which, although they began working using manual techniques, have gradually incorporated technology in their processes and materials. Today, all are sources of wealth and prosperity for the Valencian region.
As curator, Estudio Savage will incorporate new projects as the schedule progresses, with the aim of enhancing the connection with the present status of Valencian design and rewarding research and avant-garde trends in this field.