ai weiwei: un named design

‘un-named design’ exhibition at gwangju design biennale 2011
image courtesy of brendan mcgetrick

the theme of the 2011 gwangju design biennale is ‘design is design is not design’, exploring the shifting networks of the global world,
the movement of wealth and production, the emergence of new media, and the changing values of local and global communities
readdressing certain issues, problems and the potential of design.

this fourth design biennale held within the sixth largest city in korea, sees contemporary chinese artist ai weiwei
and korean architect seung H-sang as its artistic directors, who have divided this edition into six main exhibitions:
thematic; named design; un-named design; communities; biennale city; and gwangju follies.

‘wildlife DNA barcode’
image courtesy of brendan mcgetrick

in his role as artistic director, ai weiwei has co-curated the
exhibition ‘un-named’ with independent writer, editor and designer brendan mcgetrick.
this thematic
exhibition is a survey of design projects which question the contemporary definition of
design and challenging the myth of the designer.
it does not focus on aesthetics, but rather looks at how design
alters perceptions, reinvents and reveals hidden truths through
ecology, fashion, healthcare, military, politics, science and technology …

‘wildlife DNA barcode’

‘as humankind enters the second decade of a new century, it is
increasingly obvious that the standard means of describing our world
are
no longer adequate. the words and values engrained in our books and
magazines, in film and online, are unable to accurately describe
the
forces shaping our lives. if we are to make the most of the present and
think more intelligently about the future,
we first need to refresh our
language. to begin this process, we propose a radical reevaluation of
‘design’.

in europe, the idea of design is well established but poorly understood.
over the past century it has been repeatedly altered to reflect changes
in the political climate, elite preferences, or popular mood. in its
current form, design projects the values of the free market.
t is a
vague amalgamation of clothes, home furnishings, personal hygiene, art,
antiques, and user interfaces. it is western-centric,
commodity-driven,
and wealth-dependent. it is hugely influential – much copied and
frequently referenced – but it somehow loses depth with each
incarnation.

in asia, the notion of design is newer. its status remains unclear and
its limits are undefined. we propose that the 2011 gwangju design
biennale
seizes this ambiguity as source of strength. where in the west
design is a often tool for exclusion, in gwangju it can be inclusive,
accepting contributors from across cultures and classes. rather than
proposing a single, globalized template for the world to follow,
at the
biennale design will become a codeword for the invention of new forms of
difference – new slang, new relationships, new organisms, new
religions.

as its name suggests, un-named design challenges the myth of the
designer. the exhibition backgrounds issues of authorship in order to
focus on effects –
the ways in which design alters perceptions,
reinvents, and reveals hidden truths. it expands the boundaries of
design to include fields such as bioengineering,
virtual communication,
capital punishment, pre-modern technology, and non-violent protest. ours
is an exhibition about the power of ideas,
a salvo in honor of the
millions of acts of imagination that occur outside the limits of
‘design
‘. – brendan mcgetrick

‘low cost prosthetic limb’
image courtesy of brendan mcgetrick

brendan mcgetrick has written an essay on the development of the exhibition’s concept and development in collaboration with ai weiwei,
who was being detained for most of the curatorial period leading up to the biennale. the paper covers the thinking and working process
behind this theme of ‘un-named’ design, ai weiwei’s role, and how and where design is embedded into our everyday lives.
you may read mcgetrick’s full essay here.

‘low cost prosthetic limb’
image courtesy of brendan mcgetrick