Designing the Social

Sometimes out of idealism, often out of pure necessity, alternative design strategies were developed in the pursuit of an equal society. Designers, researchers and curators select and (re)interpret pieces from heritage collections and archives in order to tell an assortment of stories about a century of social design.

Design and society

The semi-permanent exhibition Designing the Social shows how versatile and sometimes radical the interaction between design and society has been over the past 100 years. Long before the concept of “social design” became prominent, it was professionals and, remarkably often, committed citizens and activists, who devised design strategies to bring about social change. Based on research and interpretation by a series of different researchers, curators and designers, the installation takes the visitor through a sequence of striking scenes from social history.

The question is always the same: how has design contributed to new worldviews, new forms of living, working and communication, and to a society in which we all have the means to shape our own ideas about the social?