· France’s design exhibition “Around Mobility” will run from 8th to 13th November during Dubai Design Week
· The exhibition will focus on the future of mobility, echoing the fortnight devoted to this theme at Dubai Expo 2020 during the same period.
· In partnership with the Institut français in the UAE, the exhibition is curated by the Cité of Design of Saint Etienne, a word-class education center and business incubator dedicated to design in France.
Dubai: The Institut Français in the UAE, the French embassy’s cultural and educational branch in the UAE, is pleased to unveil an unprecedented exhibition focusing on the theme “Design your future! From idea to application”. The exhibition will be presented during Dubai Design Week 2021, MENA region’s largest creative festival in Dubai, from Nov. 8th to Nov. 13th.
The exhibition, called “Around Mobility”, will echo France Pavilion’s main theme and the fortnigh devoted to Cities and Mobilities at Dubai Expo 2020. The exhibition will question designers’ challenges to imagine the future of mobility, by presenting works of young designers from all around the world.
In partnership with the Institut français in the UAE, the exhibition has been curated by the Cité du Design, a research and education center as well as a business incubator in art and design, located in the French city of Saint-Etienne. Saint-Etienne is a member of a UNESCO Creative City of Design network, which includes the city of Dubai.
“France has become a faithful participant in Dubai Design Week, which brings together design amateurs and professionals from the regional and international creative scenes”,HE Xavier Chatel, the French Ambassador to the UAE said. “I am very proud of our designers’ contribution this year. Mobility and design have been crucial elements of France’s history and savoir-faire.”
“Events such as Dubai Design Week are fantastic moments that allow us to build strong cross- cultural connections,” HE Xavier Chatel added. “I look forward to future collaboration opportunities between France and the UAE, in areas where we can both share expertise and learn from each other.”
France takes part in Dubai Design Week.
This exhibition will be divided into three main parts (see attached booklet) :
Around autofiction– Mobilities of the future with Unesco Creative Cities of design
Around Autofiction is a travelling exhibition with projects from Kortrijk, Detroit, Geelong, Graz, Puebla, Saint-Etienne, and Turin, all members of UNESCO’s Creative Cities of Design network. As the desire for mobility continues to grow (the number of cars on earth will exceed 1.2 billion by 2020), there are deep-seated aspirations everywhere to change our consumption patterns, our relationship with resources and our social positions.
These inspiring projects paint a picture of the research carried out by designers and companies in these UNESCO Creative Cities of Design, and underline the transversality of the issues raised by the question of future mobility. This panorama follows the rhythm of a changing sector and reveals the internationality of the issue of mobility.
Designer(s) of design
The “Designer(s) of Design” exhibition aims to draw the diversity, the evolutions, and the proposals of French design from the designers and their projects. It has been imagined by NoDesign for Lille Metropole 2020, World Design Capital. This exhibition presents around sixty designers’ projects, and all the ways in which designers create, transmit and produce in a diversity of practices.
The Cité du Design will also present”A tramway named design” competition. This competition will be open to all schools located in a UNESCO Creative City, like Dubai. The goal will be to imagine and design a full covering for one of the tramway of Saint-Étienne Métropole.
The exhibition will also showcase the works of 100 artists who participated in the #Artportchallenge, a competition launched by the Institut Français in the UAE, in partnership with JC Decaux Abu Dhabi and Abu Dhabi Airport Company in June 2021. The theme of the competition revolved around the future of mobility, and the works of the winners are currently showcased in the outdoor billboards of the Abu Dhabi International Airport.
In addition to the participation of the Institut français in the UAE in Dubai Design Week, French design and decoration companies will be gathered on a French Pavilion at Downtown design.
About Institut Français in the UAE:
Institut Français in the UAE is the cultural branch of the French embassy in the UAE, and part of a wider network of “French Institutes” across the world. As a government agency, its main mission is to share French cultural, intellectual and academic production and expertise, and develop the teaching and learning of French across the world. Institut Français in the UAE also coordinates the UAE’s network of French schools, and Alliances françaises of Abu Dhabi and Dubai.
The Instituts français network was founded in July 2010 to bring together all existing French cultural centres in the world under a single brand, with a view to enhancing cross-cultural understanding. It is involved in a vast range of activities, including the organisation of and participation in exhibitions, lectures, shows and fairs, film festivals, concerts, dance and theatre shows, training teachers of French language, promoting French higher education and supporting French cultural industries around the world.
About Cité du Design
Located in the heart of the creative district of Saint-Étienne, France’s only UNESCO City of Design, the Cité du Design raises awareness of the challenges and uses of design among all publics.
With the support of the City of Saint-Étienne, Saint-Étienne Métropole, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region and the Ministry of Culture, the Cité du Design fulfills three complementary missions: teaching art and design, disseminating design culture and providing coaching to companies and local authorities. It brings together Saint-Étienne College of Art and Design (l’École supérieure d’art et design de Saint-Étienne – Esadse) and the Cité du Design.
The Cité du design raises public awareness of the challenges and uses of design through teaching and research, exhibitions (including our renowned Biennale) and workshops. The Cité du design also provides services to local authorities and businesses. Design places people at the heart of its approach, whether it is to improve uses and lifestyles, to make better use of energy, to guide changes in housing or to contribute to improve health and transportation.
About Dubai Design Week:
Held under the dedicated patronage of Her Highness Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairperson of Dubai Culture and Arts Authority (DCAA), Dubai Design Week is the region’s largest creative festival, reflecting Dubai’s position as the design capital of the Middle East.
Staged in partnership with Dubai Design District (d3), Dubai Design Week, is a platform for regional design as well as a catalyst for the growth of the creative community in Dubai. The festival’s varied program consists of design-related events, exhibitions, installations, competitions, talks and workshops across multiple creative disciplines. Key components of Dubai Design Week include the region’s leading fair for high-quality, original design, Downtown Design; Global Grad Show, a year- round program for graduate students across the world, working on social impact innovation; Abwab, the annually remodeled, interactive platform for creative talent from the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia; alongside an extensive, hybrid talks and workshop program.
Dubai Design Week is owned and managed by the Art Dubai Group, staged in strategic partnership with Dubai Design District (d3), and supported by Dubai Culture & Arts Authority and A.R.M. Holding.
