10 activities that you cannot miss out on at Barcelona Design Week

The 13th edition of Barcelona Design Week On 5 opens its doors with a programme including more than 130 exhibitions, workshops, installations, markets, presentations, openings, conferences, documentaries, workdays and parties, among other events. Below we have picked out some of the most improtant activities:

1. Inaugural conference by Humberto Campana
On 5 June, Barcelona Design Week will get underway with a very special guest: Humberto Campana, from Hermanos Campana -one of the most renowned and prestigious studios in international design-. Campana will talk about his way of understanding design at Estudio Campana through his works, in which the idea of transformation and reinvention always flourishes, which is indeed the central theme of the edition this year: “Revalue”. Humberto will be presented by the journalist and curator Ana Domínguez Siemens, with whom he will discuss some of the concepts outlined during the conference.

2. “BASICS”, “Best design of the year” and “Do you Work or Design?” exhibitions
One of the most eagerly-awaited aspects of Barcelona Design Week are the exhibitions. This year the doors will open on 5 June, coinciding with the opening day, “Best design of the year”, an exhibition with 500 pieces from the winners and finalists of the different prizes awarded by the associations of FAD (Promotion of Arts and Design) across different creative disciplines and, “BASICS: A walk to question ourselves”, a space that, alongside BCD, offers an invitation to rethink current society in order to redirect it towards a more sustainable model through critique and a collective conscience. Lastly, from 9 June, the “Do you Work or Design?” exhibition will also be open to the public. Organised by the Museu del Disseny de Barcelona, it brings together the transformations in graphic design from 1980 to 2003. They will all be at the Disseny Hub Barcelona.

3. Barcelona Design Summit
An essential meeting point between the business and design sectors in order to share knowledge and get inspired alongside experts and professionals from different sectors who will participate in two days of conferences and a workshop organised by BCD, on 6 and 7 June. In line with the “Revalue” theme of BDW´18, two of the objects from the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development have been chosen as the main themes of debate and reflection: on one hand, promoting responsible consumption and production, and on the other hand, building more inclusive, secure, resilient and sustainable cities and communities.

4. Tastadisseny: Gastronomy and Design Festival of Barcelona
The Disseny Hub Barcelona will be the venue for the first edition of Tastadisseny on 10 June, a day of Design and Gastronomy, two worlds that are very closely linked and that feed off one another. Those attending can enjoy a market with tastings, workshops and performances. All the activities will revolve around food recycling and new trends in this field. A key role will also be played by the installation “RR201”, created by Andreu Carulla for Celler de Can Roca and its ambitious project to achieve a waste-free restaurant through the use of design.

5. Barcelona Design District: Poblenou and Gràcia
BDW’18 stretches across the entire city, with a special prominence in two districts that stand out for their creative potential. On Saturday 9 June the date is with the Poblenou Design District, where what stands out is the screening of a selection of films from the Milano Design Film Festival; the International Pavilion: Italy, in Palo Alto, which will stage the exhibitions “Ferri Taglienti” and “Grado Zero”; and the presentation of the installation “Àgora urbana” around the chimney of the old Can Saladrigas factory, a tribute installation to one of the most characteristic parts of the architectural heritage of the district. On the other hand, on 11 June the programme of activities of the Gràcia Design District will open the doors of some of the most significant design and architecture studios in Barcelona, among other activities.

6. Prizes of the associations of the FAD (Promotion of Arts and Design)
Throughout Barcelona Design Week, the prizes of the FAD (Promotion of Arts and Design) associations will be awarded across the different creative disciplines: on 6 June, the MODA-FAD Prizes will be awarded to the most important creations of the year in fashion; on June 7, it will be the FAD Prizes for Architecture and Interior Design, on their 60th anniversary; on 8 June, the ADG Laus Prizes for visual communication; on 12 June, the ArtsFAD Prizes for artistic creation, and lastly on 14 June, BDW will close with the ADI Prizes for industrial design and design culture.

7. LATENT. Talent Day
A new event that brings together companies looking for talent, schools that are supporting it and young people who have a lot to offer. LATENT. Talent Day will take place on 13 June at Disseny Hub Barcelona during an entire day that will include GROUP workshops to discover skills where young people, schools and companies will work together to overcome a challenge and discover mutual capabilities and motivations. There will also be conversations about cases of young people who have joined companies and supply and demand spaces.

8. «General Rehearsal’18: “The Rebellion of Objects”
FAD is back with another General Rehearsal, an activity that tackles a issue of social concern each year through design. Under the title “The Rebellion of Objects”, the General Rehearsal’18 will reflect on the affective links that people have towards things in contemporary consumer society. It will take shape in two main activities: a rehearsal prelude in the form of a conference session on 7 June, and the “Rebellion of Objects”, an event that will include a party, a still life of objects and a public exhibition that will take place in Hangar on 9 June.

9. “New domestic landscape. BCN: 2018”. Installation by Mau Morgó
As part of the General Rehearsal, the artist and experimental designer Mau Morgó will create an installation in Universitat square from 5 to 9 June in order to invite us to reflect on our links with technology and one of its consequences: the generation of waste. “In order to re-think the domestic experience of the future, we have designed a place that is ahead of its time, where obsolete technology and electronic waste are found alongside the archetypical structures that we have gradually created over thousands of years. This waste will be so accessible that we will begin to build with technology in order to escape from technology.”

10. “Design with the Family” days
As part of Barcelona Design Week, the Museu del Disseny de Barcelona is organising a new edition of “Design with the family”, a programme of activities aimed at families with boys and girls aged up to 12, an invitation to participate in a fun day combining games and workshops to create in shared way, as well as exhibitions aimed at all audiences.  It will take place at Disseny Hub Barcelona on 9 and 10 June, from 11 am to 6 pm continuously.