Design Month Graz 2012

27.April till 27 May 2012
www.designmonat.at

Design Month Graz is a fixture in the annual festival programme of Graz as UNESCO City of Design.  Organized by Creative Industries Styria, it will take place for the fourth time - from 27 April to 27 May 2012. Creative Industries Styria is in charge of the overall marketing and communication of Design Month, displaying a rich and dense programme with project partners such as FH Joanneum - University of Applied Sciences, Technical University Graz, cluster and networking organisations, enterprises, institutions, museums, festivals, galleries and shops. Design Month presents a showcase of the local design scene to the public. With Graz being UNESCO City of Design there is a strong emphasis on international orientation.

Besides exhibitions such as by UNESCO City of Design Buenos Aires or „Skin“ ,an exhibtion on materials research (New Materials), the presentation the solo exhibition of the renowned grafic designer herms FRITZ will be one of the programme highlights in 2012. An international presentation with lectures on „Sustainable Design“ is also hosted by Design Month, along with an exhibition on the Swiss Design Award in designforum Steiermark at Kunsthaus Graz.
Along with these highlights and festivals like assembly and springtwelve numerous smaller events will complement the programme of Design Month 2012. The City of Design Graz will also act as cooperation partner in the conference springsessions, which are organised by Canadian FITC and springfestival. Springsessions is a contemporary discussion and workshop format on Design and Media Art.

Design Month Graz will start on 27 April with a big opening event in an exceptional event location, a former store house. The venue will also be used for the exhibitions organised by Creative Industries Styria.

HIGHLIGHTS

Buenos Aires meets Graz
From 27 April to 27 May the UNESCO City of Design Buenos Aires presents itself with a colourful panorama of fashion, media design, music and film artists. The exhibits shown in the designHalle come from Argentinian designers such as Pesqueiry, Remolino and No Brand.

SELECTED: Sustainable Design
Twelve major European designers have been invited to this top-notch event to speak on the subject of sustainability in Graz. The opening on 4 May with key-note speaker David Carlson will be followed by a series of exceptional events such as a workshop on traditional furniture building, the lecture by Harald Gründl on sustainable industrial design “The form follows the formula” on 5th May, and a Designers’ Breakfast and Designers Speed Dating.

Graz & New York
Herms Fritz – “… auf, neben und zwischen den Stühlen ( …on, next to and between the chairs)“: On the occasion of his 70th birthday, a selection of works by graphic designer, writer and musician Herms Fritz demonstrate the intertwining of analogous and digital worlds and are shown at the “designHalle” from 27 April till 27 May.
The Design @ Lecture Days of FH Joanneum (University of Applied Sciences Joanneum) present Austrian born and New York based graphic designer Stefan Sagmeister with his lecture “Design and Happiness” on 17 May at the marvellous venue of the Kasematten at Schlossberg Graz.


Festival Evergreens
Electronic Festival springtwelve (16 – 20 May) will again feature a rich selection of Europe’s finest electronic DJs and DJanes, also discussing new tendencies and challenges on the music market in the springsessions conference. The design festival “assembly” however will again assemble the newest trends in fashion and product design (10 – 14 May)

Visiting neighbours
Grüezi Graz (10 May – 17 June) The most stunning award-winning objects that were nominated for the Swiss Design Award 2011 are on display in the foyer of the Graz Kunsthaus, while the German Designers YEAYEA present their project PLAKATIV at design shop kwirl.

Food Design
FISHING SPOT, DINNER PARKING and SAUSAGE STAND RELOADED
. This year’s food line, the workshop series on unusual food design reaches out to take back public places. The workshops will be held under the main bridge at the riverside of the Mur, in the stunning vaults of Kastner & Öhlers underground park house and at the best sausage stand in town, the one and only “Würstel Hannes”. (Monday, 7, 14 and 21 May).