The Dutch – and international – design calendar gets a new annual highlight this September with the launch of FreeDesigndom. This design and fashion festival, an initiative of Premsela, is made up of a variety of existing and new events in Amsterdam and Utrecht.
FreeDesigndom aims to surprise visitors with new angles on design and fashion. The watchwords are experimentalism, conceptualism and cross-disciplinarity. FreeDesigndom will present the public with a wide variety of cutting-edge design and fashion. The cities will do their part by creating a festival atmosphere.
Inside Design Amsterdam, Utrecht Manifest, Via Milano New Dutch Design and the Woonbeurs signed on early to take part in the festival. Joining them will be
Multiplicity and Visual Identities,
Streetlab,
Platform21 (with its temporary 'hairlab'), and the Dutch Artistic Research Event (DARE), a symposium held by the Utrecht Graduate School of Visual Art and Design (MaHKU). Also participating is Lisbon’s biennial event ExperimentaDesign, which will hold an Amsterdam version in alternate years beginning in 2008. ExperimentaDesign Amsterdam 2008 will feature exhibitions, lectures, discussions, and Droog Design's experimental street event Urban Play.
In the next three years, FreeDesigndom will endeavor to bring more events under its umbrella, encourage new ones, and publicise them internationally.
FreeDesigndom’s website will go online soon. To receive a schedule when it is available, email
info@freedesigndom.com .
