Here is some information about a conference that is completely organized by students of Brown and RISD. Tell me how it was if you have the chance to get there.

A Better World by Design is a three-day internationally acclaimed conference in Providence, RI that connects students, professionals, and individuals from a variety of disciplines in order to build a global community of socially conscious and passionate innovators. Presenters share engaging stories, workshops teach creative skills, and discussions reframe perspectives. A Better World by Design is an immersive experience, one that deepens our understanding of the power of design, technology, and enterprise to reshape our communities and sustain our environment.

Panels include topics like Arts + Design Organizations for Social Change, Ethics in Design, Future Urban Transport, Urban Arts and Activism etc. There are workshops with subjects like DIY Biology, Waste for Life or Designing Social Media. And of course there is a lot of opportunity to get into contact with others at the several “social events”.

Only one month is left to prepare and submit applications to the Buckminster Fuller Challenge, the premier international prize program that awards $100,000 to support the development and implementation of a solution that has significant potential to solve humanity’s most pressing problems.

The Buckminster Fuller Challenge from Buckminster Fuller Institute on Vimeo.

Jury
Each year systems thinkers and design pioneers across a wide spectrum of human endeavor are invited from all over the world to be on the Jury and select a winner of the Buckminster Fuller Challenge. Past jury members have included Janine Benyus, Sir Nicholas Grimshaw, Helena Norberg-Hodge, John Thackara, Hazel Henderson, Danny Hillis, Alan Kay, Hunter Lovins, Bill Browning, José Zaglul, William McDonough, Adam Bly, Greg Watson and Vandana Shiva.

Entries
Past entries include visionary strategies from a radical solution to human transportation in the world’s largest cities to a strategy to dramatically increase crop yields and economic development in remote African villages. While the entries cover a broad range of topics, the common thread among them is a highly integrated approach to design — one that is simultaneously comprehensive, anticipatory and aligned with nature’s fundamental principles. This focus on an integrated design strategy is what distinguishes the Challenge and the innovators who have submitted their work from other prize programs.

The deadline for entries is 5pm (Eastern Standard Time) on Monday, October 4, 2010. For the call for entries, instructions for how to enter, reference materials, and much more, visit http://challenge.bfi.org

I will be on the panel of a workshop at the Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum 2010 called “Picturing climate change – is there a conflict sensitive approach?” – it is hosted by Felix Koltermann, representing the organization Pecojon (Peace & Conflict Journalism Network) and the University of Augsburg. Further participants are the photographer Christoph Bangert, Peter Bitzer of laif and Elke Grittmann, Professor for Communication Studies at the University of Augsburg.

I wrote more about the topic in German language for the press blog of Deutsche Welle.

Waste is design flaw says Kate Krebs of the National Recycling Coalition

After the launch in 2008 greengaged returns to the London Design Festival with a full week of world-class events designed to help the design industry tackle the big issues around sustainable design. Hosted by the Design Council, with five brilliant guest curators, greengaged promises to inspire us all and challenge the design industry as a whole to create positive change.

All greengaged events are free and each lasts for a whole day with lunch included. Details about program and registration can be found on the greengaged website.

This competition calls for a logo that represents the DREAM Center program of the UNESCO/Tribute 21 Fund. The logo is intended to be used on the program’s stationery, brochures, and collateral materials including possibly in video clips, on signage and on the web.

UNESCO/Tribute 21 DREAM Centers is an arts education program for children – DREAM stands for Dance, Read, Express, Art, Music. The project was inaugurated in 2003 with the goal of providing underprivileged children, especially in post-conflict regions, the opportunities and tools to express themselves creatively. This is based on the belief that creative expression is a powerful source of self-confidence and essential to child development.

DREAM Center programs serve a need that is not being met by programs that address basic needs (food, shelter, health care, etc.). Considered non-essential, art is often left out. DREAM programs – sometimes physical structures included – are built in partnership with a local NPO. Established locations include Kabul, Afghanistan; Phnom Penh, Cambodia; Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Monrovia, Liberia, and East Jerusalem. The UNESCO/Tribute 21 Fund is a project partnership between UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) and Felissimo, a global design and merchandising company.

Application Closes November 17, 2009. Public Voting from November 19, 2009 to November 26, 2009. Results will be announced on December 08, 2009. More information via Design21 Social Design Network.

Who ever is interested in design in its experimental aspects and does not have many plans for the next week should try to catch a flight to Lisbon, where tomorrow the EXD’09 starts off with the opening week. The wider subject is “time” – “focusing primarily on the flows and mechanisms of acceleration and fragmentation”, as the organizers put it. The opening week offers a wide mix of events: talks, conferences, exhibitions and of course space for meeting and partying in warm Portuguese nights.

Memorial Torch with Afterlife Cell / © Auger-Loizeau

Interesting people will show up in the first week: e. g. Paola Antonelli, curator from the New York MoMA, will host an open talk about new forms of design. There will be more handcrafty designers and legends like Konstantin Grcic and Giulio Cappellini and also very experimental creatives like James Auger from the Royal College of Arts who will be talking about the exhibition “Lapse in Time” he is participating in. For programme details, the EXD’09 site will try to enlighten you.

If you cannot leave your base straight away, but still want to visit experimentadesign this year – don’t worry: The event goes from September 9th till November 8th.

Royal Philips Electronics has been awarded the prestigious INDEX:Award in the category Home, for the Chulha, Philips’ innovative sustainable, healthy cooking stove. The INDEX: Award is a bi-annual award that supports the INDEX mission to generate more design to improve life of higher quality all over the world.

The Chulha is a result of the Philips Design workshop entitled “a sustainable design vision – design for sense and simplicity”. It was designed to limit the dangerous health effects caused by smoke from the traditional indoor cooking in many rural areas of the developing world. Philips Design worked together with local stakeholders, including end-users, in India to realize the Chulha. As its philanthropic contribution to sustainable development Philips Design allows local stakeholders to use the Intellectual Property for free. The relatively cheap production process stimulates local entrepreneurial activities for the replication and the diffusion of the Chulha. Potential local entrepreneurs receive training to produce, install and maintain the stoves in order to serve the villages in rural areas.

More information via INDEX.

Motto Berlin is hosting the event “Unter dem Motto – One Day Self Publishing Fair”, organized in occasion of a weekend dedicated to art publications in Berlin. On Saturday, September 5th, 60 publishers coming from 18 countries, selected by Nieves, Rollo Press and Motto, will fill the spaces of Motto bookshop and Chert gallery with their productions.

This one-day event presents an eclectic mix offering a careful overview on the importance and constant growth of autonomous publishing nowadays, from home-printed zines to publications by renowned institutions. 40+ booths will give the oportunity to the audience to meet the publishers and browse titles in a friendly athmosphere.

“Unter dem Motto” is organized in parallel of the presentation of the newly acquired exhibition KIOSK – Modes of multiplication on Thursday, September the 3rd, at Kunstbibliothek Berlin and the Art Books fair Miss Read, organized by KW Institute for Contemporary Art, from September 4th to 6th.

The design, architecture and contemporary creativity biennale is inviting individuals and groups to submit a twenty second video and get the chance to win special passes to this year’s ExperimentaDesign (EXD) in Lisbon.

For the introductory video competition, EXD is looking for daring creative work, unique visions that are both inspired, insightful, challenging and outside the box. Distinctive artistic statements in their own right, these video works must reflect the Biennale’s spirit and convey a particular vision of the theme for EXD’09: It’s About Time. Submitted work should have also considered the look and feel of the communication for EXD’09 Lisboa created by Creative Director, Ian Anderson.

The winning video will be featured as part of the EXD’09 communication campaign including EXD events internationally, in a variety of channels, including television, the web and street video displays. The author(s) of the winning video will be invited to attend EXD’09 in Lisbon during the Opening Week including accommodation and an all access pass. EXD will also shortlist 5 runners-up who will receive all access passes to the biennale.

The competition is open worldwide to professionals and students over 18 years of age and will be judged by Ian Anderson and members of the EXD communication team. Submission deadline is 10 July 2009. Detailed information for download: the competition rules and the design templates. There is also a section at Vimeo for the competition.

An antidote to the glamorous pictures in celebrity magazines – that is how Erik Mark Sandberg sees his illustrations or paintings. Today it is really hard to go beyond aesthetic boundaries as there are practically no limits. But I think the “Hairy Children” pictures are really disturbing.

Those can be seen at Johanssen Gallery in Berlin from 10th July to 30th August, 2009.