Dezeen promotion: seven designers including Ross Lovegrove, Makkink & Bey, Greg Lynn and Nendo (above) will create installations at meeting places around this year’s Biennale Interieur, which will take place in Kortrijk, Belgium, from 20-28 October (+ movies).
As curator Lowie Vermeersch explains in the movie above, the 23rd Biennale Interieur has been given the theme Biennale in the City, City in The Biennale, and will include city-centre exhibitions, pop-up bars and a restaurant beyond the halls of the fairground.
The Future Primitives element of the biennale asked Nendo, Makkink & Bey, Ross Lovegrove, Greg Lynn, Troika, David Bowen and Muller Van Severen to design structures for convivial meetings around the fairground and city. Some of their ideas are revealed in the movie above.
Dutch team Organisation in Design will showcase work by young designers and design schools at Ventura Interieur, while London team DesignMarketo will create a restaurant in the former Buda Factory where diners will have a choice of 200 different chairs, as explained in the movie above.
Watch Lowie Vermeersch talk to Dezeen editor-in-chief Marcus Fairs about the programme of events in our earlier movie and register to attend Biennale Interieur 2012 here.
Here's some more information from the organisers:
Biennale INTERIEUR 2012
20 – 28 October Kortrijk, Belgium
Interieur 2012: Biennale in the City, City in The Biennale
The Biennale Interieur, coming up in Kortrijk (Belgium) from the 20th to the 28th of October is now in its 23rd edition. Recognised as the only event of its kind to balance a convivial cultural happening with the biggest names in European design, Interieur has become an important overview of trends, tastes and cultural movements that define design now. INTERIEUR 2012 will be bigger and better than ever with new city locations and an extensive programme with an exciting mix of culture and commerce.
Above: Logo of Interieur 2012: DesignCity
Above: The programme: DesignCity
The 23rd Biennale INTERIEUR 2012 will bring change and at the same time reinforce its connections with the avant-garde spirit of its creative roots. This year the Biennale breaks through the walls of the Xpo fairground and expands into the city centre of Kortrijk, offering a selection of 300 carefully picked international exhibitors and an inspired cultural programme with exhibitions, 'Future Primitives' installations, custom-designed bars and a pop-up restaurant to name a few. The halls of the Xpo fairground as well as the new city locations will merge into one DesignCity with a continuum of lanes, diagonals, piazzas and unexpected places where installations, actions and encounters unfold. As curator Lowie Vermeersch explains: “A Biennale in the city, a city in the Biennale”.
Above: Interieur DesignCity: The Kortrijk Xpo fairground and new locations on the Buda Island in the city centre of Kortrijk, linked by the free and unique Interieur Shuttles in partnership with Audi.
Future Primitives project rooms
With a fresh curatorial direction, instead of having one guest of honour, Interieur now has seven specially commissioned Future Primitives project rooms by the following groundbreaking designers, artists and architects: Nendo (JP), Troika (UK), Makkink & Bey (NL), David Bowen (US), Ross Lovegrove (UK), Greg Lynn (US) and Muller Van Severen (BE). These design installations are linked by the theme 'Future Primitives' and will offer different investigations of which essential elements will play a role in our future living environment. The 60 m2 installations will be placed at piazzas created at various locations within the Biennale and together they function as places for inspiration and confrontation, for meeting people, to eat and drink. Taken together, the project rooms and piazzas represent the essence of the Biennale INTERIEUR 2012 – conviviality, innovation and diversity.
Above: Future Primitives project room proposal by Nendo (JP), one of INTERIEUR 2012's seven international guests.
Above: Muller Van Severen (BE), one of INTERIEUR 2012's seven international guests.
Above: Future Primitives project room proposal by Makkink & Bey (NL), one of INTERIEUR 2012's seven international guests.
New locations
This year Interieur will break through the walls of the Xpo fairground and be present on the Buda Island, the cultural hart of the city of Kortrijk. On the Buda Island the main focus will be on the Buda Tower and the newly remodeled Buda Factory. The Buda Tower will house pop-up presentations by top brands such as Established and Sons (UK), Hay (DK) and Piet Hein Eek (NL) and an exhibition by Alessi called (UN)forbidden City. The Buda Factory will present the international avant-garde within today's design scene.
Above: The Buda Tower on the Buda Island, one of the new city locations within the Biennale INTERIEUR 2012.
The Interieur Bistro, located on the 1st floor of the Buda Factory, will be a hybrid between a restaurant and a design exhibition, where visitors can pick their favourite seat out of 200 displayed chairs and meet and mingle with design-minded souls day and night. For the concept behind the Interieur Bistro, Interieur has teamed up with DesignMarketo (UK) who will also be promoting the theme 'Freshly Cut'.
Above: For the concept behind the Interieur Bistro, Interieur has teamed up with DesignMarketo (UK) who will be promoting the theme 'Freshly Cut'.
Ventura Interieur
Interieur is also proud to be present Ventura Interieur. This is a partnership with Organisation in Design (NL), the team behind the successful Ventura Lambrate design district in Milan, which is devoted to emerging talent, interesting design happenings and events during the annual Salone furniture fair. Interieur and Organisation in Design came together after the realisation that both organisations have similar ethos in terms of curating their spaces, they both focus on showing a carefully chosen selection of interesting and exciting work that promotes both commerce and culture. Ventura Interieur at INTERIEUR 2012 will be an international platform that showcases a selection of young designers, new brands, academies and institutions.
Above: Ventura Interieur: a partnership between Interieur and Organisation In Design.
A vibrant mix of 300 international brands
The Biennale Interieur 2012 presents a curated selection of 300 international brands. Together they create a relevant and vibrant mix of design including timeless classics such as Thonet (DE) and Pastoe (NL), material specialists Kvadrat (DE), Corian (FR) and Lasvit (PL), hip traditionalists De La Espada (UK), Gubi (DK) and Plinio Il Giovane (IT), architectural lighting companies Flos (IT), Deltalight (BE), TossB (BE), French éditeurs like Petite Friture (FR) and established European names Moroso (IT) and Arper (IT). They will be joined by design galleries such as London and Paris-based Carpenters Workshop and Belgian based Victor Hunt, who are representing the avant-garde in design.
Interieur 2012 will bring a curated selection of 300 international design brands to 90.000 expected visitors over a period of nine days.
Facts and Figures
With over 90.000 expected visitors, a selection of 300 international design brands spread over 40.000 m2 and a strong cultural programme, the 23rd edition of the Biennale Interieur is the most relevant show of the autumn to reach out to a knowledgeable design audience. The 2010 edition saw visitors from 59 countries, of which 4 out of 10 had a professional reason to visit the biennale. The Biennale Interieur in Kortrijk is conveniently located at less than 2 hours from four European capitals: Brussels, Paris, London and Amsterdam.
Buy your INTERIEUR 2012 tickets online, follow the latest news about the Biennale Interieur on www.facebook.com/BiennaleInterieur and our Twitter feed @Interieur_be, #INTERIEUR2012