TRANSITIONERS: LE PRODUCTEUR, a module and conference about ideology and design.

your-space presents:
TRANSITIONERS: LE PRODUCTEUR

A module and conference about ideology and design.

Conference:
Sunday, May 18th, starting at 14:00

free entrance from the back: cross pink bridge at the stratumsedijk.

location:
Van Abbemuseum
Bilderdijklaan 10, EIndhoven

Société Réalist and Marko Stamenkovic, independent curator and writer, proposed to present the TRANSITIONERS' 2008 Political Trend Collection module in your-space from May 8th to May 25th, 2008, in Eindhoven. Simultaneous, they proposed a conference on ideology and design. your-space curator Freek Lomme gladly accepted to debate design and ideology, in regard of the design sphere within Eindhoven. There's a need to put design practices in a critical and international perspective, therefore we asked some designers and theoreticians whom work with ideology to step in the arena.

Conference:
Sunday, May 18th, starting at 14:00.

We will discuss present day ideology, social practices and design practices.

With:
- Cindy van den Bremen (designer, Eindhoven),
- Daniel van der Velden (Graphic designer, writer, Amsterdam),
- Annelys de Vet (graphic designer, Amsterdam, head of the man and communication department at the Design Academy),
- Marko Stamenkovic (writer and freelance curator, Belgrade / Amsterdam),
- BAVO (critics/researchers)
- Société Réaliste (cooperative, Paris),
- Marije van der Park (social designer, Eindhoven).

Moderated by Freek Lomme, curator/coordinator your-space.

Objective module:
TRANSITIONERS is a trend design agency, specialized in political transitions. Transposing the principles of prospective design, generally used by professionals in the field of fashion, to the field of politics, Société Réaliste questions the revolution (transition?) as a central category for contemporary Western society. How can a "democratic transition" be produced? What is the role of design in the permanent conversion of political flux into mythology? How can the effect of an event on citizens be transformed into a controlled affect?
Depending on present atmosphere, TRANSITIONERS defines the general climate, in which future social transformation movements will take place, in order to maximize their efficiency. By examining the evolution of revolution as a form, the project offers visual and semantic tools ready to be used by whoever wishes to: logotypes, color charts, lexical fields, etc.

Background:
For each new step in the project, Société Réaliste conceives a new trend collection, originated by a precise historical event. In 2007, the inspiration for « Bastille Days » was the French Revolution. The 2008 collection, entitled « Le Producteur » , is based on the utopias developed during the first three decades of the 19th century, by thinkers such as Fourier, Enfantin, Rodrigues, Cabet, Owen, or Saint-Simon. A wide double-side panorama, pictorial and theatrical device inherited from that time, is inscribed in the architecture of Your-Space, allowing the visitors to discover the latest research of

TRANSITIONERS.
The central question of the 2008 collection is related to the progressive separation of liberalism and socialism. While they have a common origin and were not differentiated by major utopian thinkers, the events of 1830 and 1848 progressively opposed them. This binary confrontation between liberalism and socialism still constitutes the basis of our common representations. For TRANSITIONERS, the interrogation of this ideological chasm, of its accuracy and its contradictions, is central. The stake of the collection « Le Producteur » consists in knowing how these movements share a common ideological base, and how the later can nourish the design of future transitions.
In 2006-07, the « Bastille Days » collection was presented at Trafo Galéria (Budapest), at the Kunstpavillon (Innsbruck), on the occasion of the 2nd Biennale of Moscow, at Mains d'Oeuvres (Saint-Ouen), at Ze dos Bois (Lisbon) and at the Martine Aboucaya gallery (Paris).
In 2007-08, Société Réaliste has presented « Le Producteur » at La Synagogue de Delme (France), within the frame of Transmediale 08: Conspire... at the Haus der Kulturen de Welt (Berlin), and within the frame of Utopia Transfer at Kiscelli Museum in Budapest.

SOCIÉTÉ RÉALISTE
Société Réaliste is a Paris-based cooperative created by Ferenc Gróf and Jean-Baptiste Naudy in June 2004. The cooperative manages the development of research and production structures in fields such as territorial ergonomy, experimental economy, political design or counter-strategy. Société Réaliste's practice is resolutely polytechnic, developed through exhibitions, collaborative research projects, cultural events organization, lectures, critical writings or educational interventions. Since January 2008, Société Réaliste is researcher in Design at Jan van Eyck Academie (Maastricht).

links:
www.societerealiste.net
www.cvdbremen.nl
www.marijevanderpark.nl
www.annelysdevet.nl
www.metahaven.net
www.bavo.biz