Design Week opens Saturday

The 2021 Shenzhen Design Week, themed “Design as Solution,” will take place in the city from Saturday to Jan. 3, 2022, with the goal of demonstrating the practical and innovative value of fusing design in solving problems.

The Information Office of the Shenzhen Municipal Government held a press conference at the Civic Center in Futian District yesterday to introduce the event’s highlights and preparations.

According to the organizer, the main exhibition venue at UpperHills in Futian District, as well as citywide exhibition venues, will create a carnival for designers and showcase the charm, momentum, vitality and innovation of Shenzhen, a UNESCO City of Design.

This year’s Shenzhen Design Week will implement the joint curator system for the first time under the professional guidance of an academic committee and the organizing committee’s leadership, and establish an expert advisory group, in order to benchmark the operation mode of authoritative international design weeks.

The academic committee, composed of design experts and scholars, is in charge of making suggestions to the organizing committee on Shenzhen Design Week’s theme, exhibition content and related activities, as well as providing professional guidance to the joint curators’ schemes and consultation to the organizing committee.

The expert advisory group is made up of over 30 well-known designers, design association representatives and design venue directors who use their expertise, experience, vision and design resources to provide professional consultation and advice for the design week.

The four joint curators of the 2021 Shenzhen Design Week are renowned designers Han Jiaying, Liu Xiaodu, Zhang Yuxing and Hong Ko. The academic committee is made up of nine top domestic experts and scholars, namely Jin Daiqiang, Zhang Yonghe, Wang Min, Lou Yongqi, Han Xu, Wang Shaoqiang, Zhu Rongyuan, Sun Qun and Ma Quan.

The event will cover more than 20 exhibition units in five major sections with over 300 pieces of work, as well as eight thematic forums. It will bring together the crossover works of designers from other sectors and invite artists to participate, ensuring the independent originality and richness of the works on display.

Zhang Yuxing, one of the curators of 2021 Shenzhen Design Week, introduced that the special public building exhibition he is presenting will answer to the theme “Design as Solution” from the perspectives of people’s livelihood, technological innovation and crossover integration.

Shenzhen Design Week, an international cultural calling card for Shenzhen, is hosted by the Shenzhen Municipal Government and organized by the Publicity Department of the Shenzhen Municipal Committee of the CPC.