The second edition of Bengaluru ByDesign explores immersive and interactive programming

EE News Desk Nov 14, 2019

The second edition of Bengaluru ByDesign returns from the 15-24 November featuring over 50 events focusing on demystifying design and making it more accessible to the public through installations, exhibitions, workshops, conferences, events, screenings, pop-ups, talks and more.

This year the Festival will take place across 10 venues in Bengaluru including, Bangalore International Centre, Titan Campus, Electronic City, National Gallery of Modern Arts, Workbench Projects, Ulsoor, CoWorks, Residency Road amongst others. The 10-day design programme will shine the spotlight on India’s design talent whilst also functioning as a platform for global creative dialogue, featuring strong participation from design professionals from across the world - to celebrate creativity, encourage design thinking and explore the innovations in design today.

Suprita Moorthy, Founder Bengaluru ByDesign says, "Design has diversified. It now touches on innumerable aspects of contemporary culture and business, yet its reputation still hinges on the product and, ultimately, consumption. The second edition of Bengaluru ByDesign aims to showcase a diversity of design practices contributing to the reputation of the city by adding new stories to it. Our programme is about the layering of stories, not just installations but the talks, education, the conversations that take place around it. We hope to bring a global perspective of design and each element talking to an audience who are hungry for design ideas and enjoying the quality and diversity of what is on offer. We hope you will enjoy the numerous conversations on design, technology, materiality, sustainability, community design and more.

The Festival is in collaboration with Titan, Asian Paints, CoWrks, Total Environment, Trojan Plywood, Anant National University, Pearl Academy, JD Institute, Workbench Projects, Australian Consulate-General, Chennai, Pro Helvetia - Swiss Arts Council, The British Council, The Polish Institute Delhi, NGMA Bengaluru, DesignUp, Hendricks and Monkey Shoulder.

“Asian Paints has always been a steady supporter of conversations around design and decor in the country. This is the second year that we've partnered with Bengaluru ByDesign, and we're very happy to see the way it has developed into a signature event in the city of Bengaluru. This year, Asian Paints is proud to present Beautiful Homes, the design platform that we launched three years ago, which has more than 500K followers and has now grown to be the largest community of design enthusiasts in the country. Beautifulhomes.com will be presenting a panel discussion on key research that Asian Paints has conducted across the country on the 'State of Indian Homes'. The panellists will discuss findings from Asian Paints’ research study into the way Indian homes are designed, trends in the decor and design industry, and what it tells us about the way we live today.” - Mr. Amit Syngle, COO of Asian Paints.

Some of the key highlights of this year’s festival are immersive public installations including Taburete Tower by artist Polish Architect Jakub Szczesny binding architectural tooling and design practice to create a community-building project focusing on the notion that ‘Design is for everybody’. Our Colour Reflections by British designer & artist Liz West will respond site-specifically to the architecture in which rays of light will beam through seven prisms made from special colour filter glass in creating an atmospheric illusion that will stimulate visitors’ visual perception of colour. This installation is in collaboration with Asian Paints & the British Council. Loo Cafe X Water Loop, a sustainable sanitation project will showcase a new model for public toilets that celebrates water and ecological systems. This collaboration is between the curators Jane Withers Studio UK, Anupama Kundoo Architects and Ixora Corporate Services. Vivid Books by Vitek Skop will present an interactive installation using the interactive textbook where students will learn about physics topics through augmented reality in a fun and playful way.

Alongside installations, Design & Photography exhibitions will be on display across the city including Eye on Poland, curated by Magdalena Frankowska and Artur Frankowski in collaboration with The Polish Institut, Delhi. This exhibition will be hosted by Titan Campus, Electronic City and take the viewer on a voyage through a wide range of styles, attitudes and design strategies reflecting the richness of the current Polish graphic design scene. The works selected are primarily posters, books, exhibition catalogues and album covers.

Renowned photographer John Gollings’ retrospective, an MGA travelling exhibition titled The History of Built World will be exhibited at the Bangalore International Centre in collaboration with the Australian Consulate-Général Chennai. NGMA Bengaluru will present Prabudda Dasgupta’s retrospective titled, A Journey featuring a collection of 100 prints mapping his career.

Intimate Etre by Magali Couffon De Trevros curated by Shraddha Nair is an exhibition hosted by DDIR Architecture Studio. This exhibition seeks to embrace the idea of humans as individuals, transcending labels, typecasts and prejudices. Through a twelve-part portrait series that was captured in the homes of the subjects themselves, Magali tells a story of each one, through the play of colour and light, creating striking contrasts and capturing moments of an uninhibited every day.

The Festival believes in engaging with the public to create awareness about various upcoming design technology and forms and aims to achieve it through their detailed programming of public workshops and talks.

BBD in collaboration with Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) & Workbench Projects will host various workshops including POP-Arc which will introduce students to the process of making physical objects using digital design and fabrication tools. Participants will learn how tools such as CNC machines, 3D printers and Industrial Robots are applied to fields ranging from design to sci-fi films. The work produced during POP-Arc will be exhibited at Bengaluru International Centre.

Other workshops include Design Thinking Masterclass: How to solve complex business problems using the power of design by Andy Budd in collaboration with DesignUp. Fashion & Sustainability Workshops on Maximalism vs Minimalism by Swiss Designer Marial Manual will be held at the JD Institute of Fashion Technology. Visitors will also learn the craft of wire weaving, building rockets prototypes and interdisciplinary workshops exploring the future of fashion, speculative design by Pearl Academy amongst others.

Blue Cat Paper, The Makers Market, The Object Shop and The Museum of Everything will return with bigger and compelling content this year along with D:Talks that will explore topics including Mobility Design in Cities through data-driven insights, The State of Indian Homes and The Future of Architecture, Culture makes Design: Design makes culture in this year's edition. The Festival will also organise talks and workshops with international designers at Anant National University, Ahmedabad.

Once again Design will take centre stage at the Titan campus as a part of Design Day at Titan, focusing on the Future of Making featuring thought-provoking conversations and presentations materiality, designing in turbulent times, crafting futures etc. British Designers Kate Pelen curator and creative producer of Central St Martins, UK & Lucy Sanderson will be amongst the stellar line-up.

Part of the bigger programming, the festival will also include the fourth edition of DesignUp, 12 - 16 November, with a two-day conference at Lalit Ashok that will explore the integration of design and technology and aims to raise the design agenda within tech-companies and tech-led businesses. Some of the key speakers include Jon Kolko, Partner, Modernist Studio/Founder, Austin Center for Design, Eric Quint - VP and Chief Design Officer, 3M, Payal Arora, Researcher, Author, Lecturer Erasmus Univ Rotterdam, Scott Sorokin, SVP, Global Head of Infosys Experience Design (Infosys XD), Ovetta Sampson, Design lead and Researcher IDEO Chicago, Simone Rebaudengo, Founder Automato.farm Shanghai, teacher/film-maker, Andy Budd, Founder/Director ClearLeft, Founder/Curator Ux London & Leading Design, Alysha Naples, Chief Experience Officer, Tin Drum. Bengaluru ByDesign will be presenting an installation Vivid Books by Vitek Skop along with an immersive installation and experience zone by Pearl Academy at this Lalit Ashok.