The World Around architecture & design summit in Rotterdam

 

New York-based architecture and design platform The World Around returns with the third edition of their annual conference on contemporary architecture and design. Together with the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Het Nieuwe Instituut in Rotterdam hosts this international event in 2022, presenting dozens of groundbreaking and debate-defining projects from the design world.

 

The conference starts on 5 February with an online and physical programme from the Guggenheim. The distinguished line-up includes Pritzker Prize winner Tadao Ando, artist Himali Singh Soin, architect Lesley Lokko, artist Amie Siegel, writer Amitav Ghosh, design firm Formafantasma and architecture firm MVRDV. The conference can be watched for free online via a livestream.

 

 

Every year, The World Around offers a podium to designers, artists and architects from all over the world who present their current and future design projects. Urgent international issues such as climate change, racial and social equality, ecology, digital technology and the rights of indigenous peoples are discussed in detail. On 5 February, the speakers will present their projects both physically from the Guggenheim in New York and digitally from around the world. The international programme includes designers from Tokyo, Beijing, Rosario, Brazil, Milan, Zurich and Barcelona.

 

The conference at the Guggenheim will be divided into three different sessions focusing on the role of contemporary, spatial, social and digital design in relation to global issues. The first session will look back at projects that have brought about fundamental changes over the past year. The second session will focus on how visualising the networks and processes behind materials can create new planetary imaginaries and generate action and visibility on complex issues. The third and final session explores how attitudes towards ecological conservation and monuments have changed over the past year. Throughout the sessions, both online participants and physical attendees will have ample opportunity to ask questions.

 

P.S. On 11 June, as part of the Rotterdam Architecture Month, The World Around is organizing a second live conference at Het Nieuwe Instituut in Rotterdam. More information about the programme and speakers for this specific event will follow later this year.