Exhibitions

For last year’s festival we prepared several exhibitions. The main exhibition dedicated to the future in design, Future is!, was open every day at Zlín Castle. The second exhibition, Future is Best of ’24!: A Place in the Future at the G18 Gallery focused on the finalists of the international competition Best in Design 2024, which has been tracking new talents in the fields of Product & Industrial Design, Fashion Design, Communication Design and Service Design for fifteen years. Visitors could also enjoy the Future is ZDW! installation presenting each of the previous editions of the festival.

The festival exhibitions were created with the technical support of DATART. KOMA modules with partner content, a chill-out module and information about the festival were placed at the Trade House, in the Komenský Park by Café 204 and at Náměstí Míru.

Datart was the exclusive partner of the exhibitions.

FUTURE IS!

The main festival exhibition. What impact does design have on our future? The main exhibition of the Future is! festival focused on current challenges and trends in design and featured projects that could shape our near and distant future. The selection of projects focused on meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), resilient design, the use of new technologies and inclusive approaches. Visitors were given a glimpse of how design could shape the future today.

Michala Lipková, Exhibition curator (SK)

Michala Lipková is a designer and researcher mainly in product design, focusing on interdisciplinary collaborations. In 2015, as an active designer, she received the Slovak National Design Award. She is the head of the Institute of Design at the Faculty of Architecture (FAD) of STU and, at the same time, leads the TR1MTAB product design studio, focused on interdisciplinary practice and early stages of product development. She also focuses on innovative design tools and on promoting Slovak design abroad.

Future is Best of ’24!:  Place in the Future

The future is often seen as a science fiction structure competing with human characteristics, rather than as the evolution of predetermined outcomes. The purpose of its exploration by designers is not to predict the inevitable, but to discover ways of influencing future events.

Inclusive, resilient and innovative design has a place in the future of our society. Design is ubiquitous, transforming current designs into future solutions that influence the quality of our lives. We explored its place in the future, accompanied by the finalists of the 15th edition of the international Best in Design competition.

For fifteen years, Best in Design has provided a space for new talent to explore ways to influence the direction of design and everyday life. Which themes and approaches did the finalists highlight? How did they perceive the world and its direction? The Future is Best of ’24!: A Place in the Future brought together visual communication, industrial product solutions, service design and textile design. It opened a space for encounters, discussions and reflection on how to create and support design for the future we wanted.

The finalists of the 15th edition of the competition were presented from 9 to 24 May at the G18 Gallery.

IDENTITY: After Milano 2024

IDENTITY, presented at Milan Design Week 2024, was a selection of designs from five collaborating universities, including the Faculty of Multimedia Communications at Tomas Bata University in Zlín. The exhibition featured a diverse range of objects, both physical and digital, everyday and festive, that have shaped our awareness of our own identity, i.e. identity. The projects were largely generational testimonies of young designers who faced a range of new challenges: from the ubiquitous search for sustainability, to the potential or risks of new technologies brought about by, for example, artificial intelligence, to the discovery of one’s own creative self.

The exhibition IDENTITY: after Milano 2024 was subsequently presented in the Elements bathroom studio in Zlín. Studio Elements represented a completely new, modern showroom concept with current trends and new technologies, presenting product functionality combined with the most precise design.

what previous ZDW exhibitions looked like?

View of the white gallery space. In the middle of the space there are white blocks with exhibited projects. In the background you can see several clothing design projects hanging from the ceiling.
The photo focuses on white sneakers, and a hat and handbag that are made from upcycled sneakers. The installation is placed on a metal stand. In the background there are crowds of people.
A view of the wall with 10 posters featuring projects from the Best in Design competition. On the left is a TV screen showing a radiator. In the foreground the installation is mounted on a metal stand. White sneakers are placed on the ground and a hat and a handbag, which are made just from upcycled sneakers, are hung on the metal stand.
A younger woman with her hair in a ponytail looks at an exhibition on the topic of misinformation. The exhibition is in the form of posters on the wall. The posters have a red background and white text and are accompanied by graphic elements.
A view of the white gallery space with pictures on the walls and an interesting pink fan-shaped armchair.
A view into the white space of the G18 gallery. In the view there is a white column and behind it a poster of one of the installed projects.
A view of the wall with red posters with white lettering depicting an exhibition on desinformations
A view of the wooden installation with white banners presenting the exhibited projects. A wooden stool is placed next to the installation. The exhibition was titled long life and the projects on display are about upcycling and recycling.
Close-up of a stool with a paper from mamazin magazine on white paper showing letters in various decorative fonts.