The Politics of Design: Act 1 Exhibition

The Politics of Design: Act 1 exhibition presented works of 15 designers and collectives selected as participants in the 'Situated Actions' strand of the 15th edition of the international Participatory Design conference. UHasselt, Faculty of Architecture, LUCA School of Arts, Z33 - House for Contemporary Art, the city of Hasselt and the city of Genk present these 15 situated actions in order to address the debate on public space (in Hasselt) and on the politics of design. This 'first act’ was a first exhibition in a longer trajectory, that aimed for starting new collaborations on a local, regional and international context.

The Politics of Design: Act 1 intended to contextualise participatory design practices that were part of the Participatory Design Conference by placing them in a dialogue with several local and international projects which will also be presented in the exhibition. The exhibition presented 3 thematic clusters that made tangible the politics of ways in which participation is given form. These 'ways to participate' are: BODY (participating as an individual and a physical body through practices of care and work), COMMUNITY (participating through and towards creating a collective through practices of commoning and representation) and CITY (participating as a stranger in larger scale networks, through practices of data production and collection, and contributions to complex challenges, such as sustainability).

Selected situated actions encompassed Participatory Design-inspired exhibitions, interventions, participatory walks, public debates, performances and other interactive formats. The exhibition was curated and prepared by Mela Zuljevic, Jan Boelen, Ils Huyghens and Liesbeth Huybrechts