Dezeen Magazine

Design Week Mexico 2016 reveals programme of exhibitions and installations

Dezeen promotion: Design Week Mexico has unveiled its programme for this year's event, including exhibitions, installations, a symposium, film screenings and an architecture pavilion (+ slideshow).

Founded in 2009 by Emilio Cabrero, Andrea Cesarman, Marco Coello and Jaime Hernández, Design Week Mexico intends to promote creativity and design as catalysts for social change.

Design Week Mexico 2016
Design Week Mexico has unveiled its programme for this year's event, including Design Content which brings design to the streets. Photograph by Victor Benitez

The event offers a varied architecture and design programme, and takes place across Mexico City from 5 to 9 October 2016, with some exhibitions and installations lasting until 2017.

This year's programme includes an presentation of works by the Mexican and American Modernist designer Don Shoemaker, and an exhibition of pieces by the late Japanese and Argentinian visual artist Kazuya Sakai.

Design Week Mexico 2016
There will be an exhibition by the late Japanese-Argentinian visual artist Kazuya Sakai, who is credited for introducing geometric abstraction to Mexico

Other events include screenings of documentaries about the country's creative industries, and a one-day symposium called Creativity for Change.

Creativity for Change will focus on the relationship between design, education, innovation and sustainability and their possible social impact, particularly within the urban context.

Guest speakers include Christoph Korner from the German architecture studio GraftSFMOMA's head of architecture and design Jennifer Dunlop Fletcher, MACM's director John Zeppetelli and social urbanist John Bela from Gehl Studio.

Since 2013, Design Week Mexico has hosted a guest country to encourage international collaboration, and to give the public a look into the invited nation's design context. Previous collaborators include Brazil, the United Kingdom and Italy.

Design Week Mexico 2016
Territorio Creativo will bring together a series of events, workshops, exhibitions and food stands. Photograph by Rene Enriquez

The 2016 design week will host Germany – coinciding with the Germany-Mexico dual year, which is a cross-cutting programme that promotes the Mexico in Germany and Germany in Mexico.

As part of the collaboration German studio Nikolaus Hirsch/Michel Müller will create a temporary structure in the gardens of Museo Tamayo.

"For this eighth edition of Design Week Mexico, we are pleased to have the opportunity to work with the German Embassy and the Goethe Institut to encourage collaboration and dialogue across creative communities in both countries, in the context of Germany–Mexico Dual Year," said the general director of Design Week Mexico Emilio Cabrero.

"Design Week Mexico strengthens a network of practitioners nationally and internationally, while offering a high-quality programme of activities for those interested to explore the role of design in culture and society," he said.

Design Week Mexico 2016
Mexican craftsman Pablo Pajarito will work with German designer Moritz Putzier for the Vision & Tradition residency

Each year, Design Week also hosts a guest Mexican state, and has chosen Jalisco for 2016.

Aiming to enhance national and international dialogue, young designers from Germany and Mexico work collaboratively with craftsmen from Jalisco to explore the significance of traditional crafts in contemporary design.

Design Week Mexico successfully led the bid for World Design Capital 2018, which is awarded biannually to cities based on their commitment to use design as an effective tool for economic, social, and cultural development.

The city is currently undergoing an initial phase of research and investigation, in which its inhabitants and the social dynamics enabled by design and other modes of creative production are examined.

Design Week Mexico 2016
Design studio Peca will present work as part of Inédito – a group exhibition of young talents

"As the city prepares for World Design Capital 2018, this is an opportunity for the public and professionals alike to discover the latest trends in Mexican contemporary design and beyond," said the organisers.

"Mexico City has a powerful story to share internationally, as a model for other megacities around the world tackling the challenges of urbanisation and using design as a tool to enable a safer, more liveable city."

Dezeen are media partners for the eight edition of Design Week Mexico, which will take place in Mexico City, running from 5 to 9 October 2016.

Read on for the full list of events:


For this upcoming edition of Design Week Mexico, a significant exhibition by the Mexican-American modernist designer Don Shoemaker will launch at the Museo de Arte Moderno, alongside an exhibition by the late Japanese-Argentinian visual artist Kazuya Sakai, who is credited for introducing geometric abstraction to Mexico.
Open on 5 October, 7 to 11pm, runs until 2017 Museo de Arte Moderno, Bosque de Chapultepec

Design Week Mexico 2016
Taking place at Museo Tamayo in Mexico City, the exhibition will also feature Mayan Wood Furniture by Bacalar-based ITZ

The gardens of Museo Tamayo will play host to DWM Tamayo Project, a major architectural pavilion designed by the internationally acclaimed German studio Nikolaus Hirsch/Michel Müller. Similarly to the Serpentine Pavilion in London, the temporary structure will become a central social element of the contemporary art museum and its surrounding park, Bosque de Chapultepec, and will be accessible until the Spring.
Opens on 5 October, 7 – 11pm, runs until March 2017 during museum hours, Museo Tamayo, Bosque de Chapultepec

Design Week isn't only hosting a guest country, but also a guest state. Located in Western Mexico, Jalisco is known for its natural resources and rich history. Vision and Tradition offers a residency programme to young designers from Germany and Mexico to work collaboratively with craftsmen from Jalisco, enabling a cultural dialogue between international creative communities and exploring the significance of traditional crafts in contemporary design.

Vortice by FOAM at Inédito, Design Week México 2016
As well as Vortice lighting by studio FOAM

The work produced during this residency will be exhibited at Museo Tamayo, alongside Inédito, a group exhibition of young talents in the field of contemporary design, including Mexican practices MOB, Shelf, Inexo, ADOS Axioma, Raul López de la Cerda and Taller R.
Opens on 5 October, 7 - 11pm, Museo Tamayo, Bosque de Chapultepec.

The fundraising event Design House will see a group of designers and architects, including Uribe Krayer, Studio Roca, Sofia Aspe, Rhyzoma and C Cubica, intervene on a neocolonial-style house at the heart of the upscale district of Polanco, known for its diverse artistic and cultural offerings. Participants will transform the space into an innovative, site-specific installation accessible to the public throughout the month.
6 – 23 October, 10am – 7pm, Luis G. Urbina 84, Polanco – $100 MXN donation for adults (£4), $50 MXN for students, teachers, seniors and children (£2).

Design Week Mexico 2016
The pieces, like Frenesí by ĀDOS at Inédito, will be presented alongside work by Mexican practices MOB, Shelf, Inexo, ADOS Axioma, Raul López de la Cerda and Taller R

Meanwhile, EXPO Design Week brings together designers to promote and showcase their most recent creations at Blend, Mexico City's best-loved concept store.
6 - 9 October, 11am – 8pm, Paseo de las Palmas 520

Complementing the exhibition programme is the one-day symposium Creativity for Change in Chapultepec, which will offer a platform for dialogue and debate, hosting a range of practitioners, academics and writers. This discursive event will look at the dynamic relation- ship between design, education, innovation and sustainability while exploring their possible social impact, particularly within the urban context.

Guest speakers include Christoph Korner from the German architecture studio GRAFT; SFMOMA's Head of Architecture and Design Jennifer Dunlop Fletcher; MACM's Director John Zeppetelli; social urbanist John Bela from Gehl Studio, and more to be announced soon.
7th October, 9.30am – 6.30pm, Venue TBC

Design Week Mexico 2016
Fundraising event Design House will see a group of designers and architects transform a a neocolonial-style house. Photograph by Rene Enriquez

Later that evening, a series of documentaries in relation to the creative industries will be screened outdoors at the Angela Peralta Theater. Opened in 1939, the venue was designed by Mexican archi- tect Enrique Aragón Echegaray, inspired by the Delacorte Theater in Central Park, New York and the Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles.
7 October, 7pm – 10pm, Teatro Angela Peralta, Parque Lincoln

Over the weekend, Design Content will bring design to the streets, while promoting young practitioners. Twenty containers installed on Julio Verne in Parque Lincoln, Polanco, offer temporary showcase displays in one of the most important commercial area of the city. In addition, architecture and design students present interventions around the water fountains of the park. Meanwhile on Calle General Francisco Ramírez, Territorio Creativo brings together a series of events, workshops, exhibitions and food stands at Luis Barragán's house and studio, Galería Archivo Diseño y Arquitectura and Galería Labor.
8 – 9 October, 11am – 6pm, various locations.

For those eager to discover the newest collections and trends in the capital's best showrooms and art galleries, Design Route provides buses in and around Polanco, Lomas de Chapultepec, San Miguel Chapultepec, Roma and Condesa in a hop on/ hop off format, for residents and visitors alike can.
8th October, 11am – 6pm, Julio Verne, Parque Lincoln

www.designweekmexico.com