A cross-cutting event dedicated to design in its broadest sense. International discussion and exchange of knowledge and experience. A cyclical meeting around the achievements of the young generation of designers. Asking questions and trying to find answers. A design review, exhibitions, workshops and a conference. This is what the AGRAFA project is – Silesia’s and Zagłębie’s flagship design event, which will take place on 26 April 2024 in Katowice as an official event within the Katowice 2024 European City of Science celebrations.
Reflection – about the theme
For design, reflection and reflexivity seems to be something essential. However, the modern world – through advanced technologies and the increasing use of artificial intelligence – requires us less and less to make decisions preceded by deeper consideration and reflection. This forces us to ask: how will this changing reality affect the work of designers? This problem could not fail to become the theme of the next edition of AGRAFA. The upcoming edition of the conference will provide an opportunity to discuss reflection and reflexivity in design. We will ask the question about reflexivity in many dimensions – understood as reflection – creative and critical thought, but also as reflection – that is, a reflection and a clearly exposed fragment on which we focus our attention. It will also be an opportunity to reflect from a broad level on the phenomenon of reflection and reflections in relation to their role in design embedded in a world of galloping developments in technology and artificial intelligence.
Proceedings – what awaits the participants
AGRAFA’24, like the previous editions, will consist of several elements: a student competition review, which will be crowned by an exhibition of selected and awarded works, a conference under the Reflection/Reflection motto and workshops combined with Young AGRAFA – presentations by young designers. The entire event will be enriched by accompanying exhibitions, developing the themes of the event.
The exhibition opening, conference and workshops are scheduled for 26 April 2024. Unlike in previous years, the event will cover one day, but one that is intensive and full of variety.
8. conference and workshop edition – Agrafa’24: Reflection
In workshops, presentations and discussions, participants will explore the importance of reflection in the design process, considering how introspection and self-awareness can enrich the creative process. We will also ask how to build our own design strategies centred on individual user preferences in relation to what is probably inevitable, and what is proposed to us by the increasingly widely used artificial intelligence.
There will be no shortage of space for the subject of the phenomena of virtual influence and changing our perceptions – from the development of augmented technology and virtual reality to the impact of social media on our sense of individualism, but also community values. We will also have the opportunity to consider how, in an attentive and reflective way, to create more meaningful and engaging solutions for a changing world.
Their participation in the 8th International Design Conference AGRAFA’24 – Reflection has been confirmed by:
- Thomas Wedell – a prominent American graphic designer awarded with the prestigious AIGA award, co-founder of the Skolos-Wedell studio,
- Joanna Murzyn – Initiator of the Institute of Digital Ecology and world-class illustrator,
- Ruben Pater – Designs, writes and teaches in search of ethical alternatives for design, a designer with a wealth of professional experience and reflection that he wants to share with others,
- Emmi Salonen – graphic designer, creative director and certified happiness facilitator. Everything she does is based on a simple but powerful idea: Positive Creativity,
- Paweł Jaworski – philosopher and urban planner who programs and implements urban experiments that combine design, research and participatory activities,
- Ola Hantkiewicz – UX/UI designer, architect and urban planner, originator and author of such solutions as Public Green Space Management Systems for the City of Tychy and Zduńska Wola, which form the basis for a coherent, long-term policy of urban green space development,
- Oliver Herwig – design expert and award-winning journalist and book author, who is currently focusing on new forms of living :smart homes and concrete architecture.
- Juha Teirilä – an economist whose interests and activities are related to the energy market and the detection of anomalies in it. He also has a degree and extensive experience with information technology and software. He is interested in the environment and his research focuses on visualising energy consumption data in times of crisis.
Registration for the conference is underway – details can be found at www:agrafa.asp.katowice.pl
The conference will be complemented by workshops on a wide range of topics, such as: subjective ceramics, guerrilla design, the personal creative ecosystem or eco-design. This element of the event will be more open, both in terms of its form (interactive, involving movement and creativity), but also in terms of the conditions for participation – registration for the workshops takes place independently of the conference registration and will start at the beginning of April.
As in previous years, the event will also include Young AGRAFA – short presentations by people who have just started with design, but already have reflections they want to share with others.
Design Review – an exhibition of student projects and design studios
The AGRAFA International Student Design Review has been in existence for more than 30 years as a comprehensive platform for presenting the latest student design developments. This year’s edition will feature studio presentations in addition to student work. The aim of this novelty is to provide a platform for the exchange of experience and enrichment of knowledge about different approaches to design education, as well as an opportunity to promote and popularise the activities of individual studios.
We already know the works selected in the pre-selection, which were chosen by a jury consisting of: Agata Gancarczyk, Zuzanna Wasiak and Michał Kopaniszyn. They will be presented as part of an exhibition at the Rondo Sztuki Gallery in Katowice, the opening of which will take place on 26 April 2024. The winners will be selected by a jury of conference guests and visitors, and the results will be announced during the vernissage closing the upcoming edition of the AGRAFA project. The deadline for submissions for the review is 12 February 2024.
Accompanying events
Agrafa is often also the pretext and base for various thematically related accompanying events. In the 2024 edition, their list includes:
- jan Hollender’s exhibition of graphic signs in the Roundabout of Art under the curatorial eye of Patryk Hardaij,
- an exhibition of posters by Thomas Wedell at the Academy of Fine Arts in Katowice,
- a portfolio consultation hosted by STGU – the Association of Applied Graphic Designers,
- a pop-up bookshop where you will be able to buy books by the speakers of the conference as well as books on design.
The event is organised by the Academy of Fine Arts in Katowice.
The conference and workshops together with Young AGRAFA will take place in the building of the academy at 50 Raciborska St. The opening of the exhibition, together with the selection of the winners, will take place in Galeria Rondo Sztuki in Katowice. Both the conference and Young AGRAFA and the opening of the exhibition as part of the competition review will be interpreted into sign language.
The event is being held as part of the European City of Science Katowice 2024 celebrations.
The project ‘Thomas Wedell. The art of visual communication: from form to meaning. Educational series and exhibition’ has been co-financed by the Upper Silesian and Zagłębie Metropolis within the framework of the ‘Metropolitan Science Support Fund’ Programme 2022-2024.
The whiteMAD magazine is a media patron of the event.
source: organiser materials
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