The minor Open Design at WdKA, developed in collaboration with Waag, explores the principle of 'openness' as a parameter for design. The Downloadable Design Exhibition was the first project of this semester. Students have been experimenting with the properties of Open Design while exploring its implications for their practice as a designer.
The assignment of this term challenged them to 'open' a historical object from the collection of museum Boijmans Van Beuningen: to re-appropriate it and to redesign it in a way that it could become meaningful for its users.
This exhibition showed various approaches towards 'openness' in design. Through (online) manuals, objects and systems like a tulip vase, a walking stick, a color game or a cardboard chicken, students invite the audience to question the product, its history, meaning and function and to eventually adapt it, turning viewers into makers.
Participants: Jet Gispen, Sophie van Bragt, Phaotong Slager, Koen Rubingh, Gerrit Bruins, Jolien van Delft. Work of the last two students is shown above in our image caroussel.
