Transitions: Migration and Travel Exhibition

NYC X DESIGN WEEK 2016

Transitions: Migration and Travel

In our transient lives, movement from one place or state to another is common, if not expected. Our boundaries are constantly being redefined, both physically and conceptually. Yet all this movement is creating new challenges and reinforcing existing ones, intimate issues of belonging and identity become critical: voluntary versus forced migration, passports, visas, adapting to regulations and technologies, refugees, illegal immigrants, acceptance and integration into new cultures and societies, while needing to keep connections to native lands and homes alive.

The Transitions: Migration and Travel exhibition looks at the fundamental role that design plays in bringing awareness to the specific issues of global movement, immigration, and the refugee crisis. It encourages relevant conversations and presents innovative solutions to these opportunity areas. The exhibition was held at two Wanted Design locations, one in Brooklyn’s Industry City, and the other at Manhattan’s Terminal Stores. Our D&F label was launched during NY Design Week 2016.

INDUSTRY CITY, BROOKLYN

May 7 – 17, 2016

TERMINAL STORES, MANHATTAN

May 14 – 16, 2016

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION PIECES

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Sift, 200grs

You wake up one day finding yourself destitute, not much on you, not much that you can do, you are now part of a crowd, a much bigger crowd, a crowd that keeps on growing and growing endlessly; you try to fit, you try to cross, to be part of a better world, to end this nightmare, but the contest is way too big, the crowd is getting bigger and bigger each day, and the inspection is getting harder and harder. Your chances are getting slimmer. A pin between millions trying to make it to the edge. There its role is to cross the sieve though sifting and to cross this selective border.
Cultural Transfers, Azra Aksamija

Cultural Transfers, a series of signs, addresses the ongoing societal polarization in regard to the presence and visibility of muslims, ethnic minorities and immigrants in Western Europe. The project reacts to the sign language used in diverse anti-mosque posters and protests prompted by an increased visibility of Muslims in European cities
Welcome Suitcase, Design to Improve Life

In Elsinore, Denmark, almost 7,000 students took part in a competition where they were asked to design solutions to improve local refugee integration. After putting themselves in the shoes of refugees, the winning team identified language as the key tool for inclusion and bonding – resulting in the ‘Welcome Suitcase’. Made to help refugee children learn Danish in a fun and interactive way, the empathy-driven design is a ‘suitcase’ containing educational games, folding books and handmade puppets for role-play
Visualizing European Migrant Crisis, Lucify

Europe is currently experiencing the biggest refugee crisis since World War II. Massive numbers are thrown about in the media on daily basis. But what does half a million asylum seekers really look like? The goal of this project is to convey the magnitude of the crisis in a way that is intuitive, memorable and engaging. The authors use public data from the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR). The core of the project is an open source interactive map that shows asylum applicants arriving in European countries—one that lets the viewer observe change over time, and dig deeper into the places and moments that surprise them.
Playground of Americas aka Hood buy Everything, Jahnkoy by Maria Kazakova

The project explores the realities of today’s society and its values. It reestablishes “ethnic” in a new contemporary way, to reconnect people to the knowledge of the past, promote handwork, and craftsmanship, bring “ethnic” out of the costume status and raise the value of craft, clothes and materials
Wearable Homes, Mary Mattingly

The wearable home considers the significance of architecture and how it relates to events, places, and emotions. As the world gets smaller, architecture will be less about cultural affinities and relate more to economic globalization. The wearable home may soon be the epitome of a globalized state. The design of the Wearable Home examines the cohesive threads of cultures’ and groups’ clothing throughout the world; the blandification and brandification of garments spanning cultures worldwide to make one, general look de-emphasizing self and re-emphasizing everything else.
Al Manfa (Exile), Obeida Sidani

This piece deals with the emotional, personal and physical repercussions of exile through the manifestation of migration patterns mapped in Arabic calligraphy. An installation of 25 frames timing one second of how much one loses from themselves as they embark on this journey into the unknown. The outcome can be beautiful or devastating but as you walk though your experience grows progressively through the panels mirroring the human growth and transition through life
Ghata, Rabih Shibli

The Ghata (‘cover’ or ‘shelter’) Project is a proactive architecture initiative to provide multifunctional structure for refugees. The guiding principles of the Ghata are based on (a) simplicity and portability, (b) adaptability and scalability, (c) climatic responsiveness, (d) economic efficiency and endurance of the design that is aimed to ensure decent shelter conditions for Syrian refugees facing a protracted stay on Lebanon’s grounds. In partnership with local NGOs, the Ghata project was implemented as “Ghata: Bringing Education to Refugees in Informal Tented Settlements”. To date, 8 Ghata schools have been assemble.
You’re Not Supposed To Be Here, Karim Douaidy

This immersive sound composition called “You’re not supposed to be here” explores the ambiguously related notions of displacement and subcultural belonging. 3D audio recording and post-production techniques are used to place the audience in an engaging virtual environment