The list of speakers for What Design Can Do 2015 has been finalized: smell artist Sissel Tolaas, master chef Alex Atala, Google designer Steve Rura, graphic designer Stefan Sagmeister and ‘humanity’ architect Cameron Sinclair are just some of the names coming to Amsterdam on 21 and 22 May to speak about the social relevance of design.

Bompas and Parr;image © Ben Ottewell 

This is the fifth time that designers from all disciplines and from all over the world gather in Amsterdam to share best practices in the field of social design. Bigger than ever before, this year’s schedule of events includes What Design Can Do for the Senses hosted by the Stedelijk Museum, and an ‘experience programme’ with chef Atala and British duo Bompas & Parr. Other scheduled events include a festival of design films and countless workshops in and around the Stadsschouwburg, Amsterdam’s main theatre, which is the venue for What Design Can Do.

Bompas and Parr,SS Britain,image © What Can Design Do!

According to creative director and founder of What Design Can Do,Richard van der Laken, the past five years have demonstrated that designers can increasingly play meaningful roles when it comes to solution social problems.

Campana Brothers;image © Fernando Laszlo

‘The need for creativity, for unorthodox solutions, is greater than ever before.’ The place where designers spur one another in that endeavour is What Design Can Do. ‘No wonder that The New York Times last year described What Design Can Do as the international arena where designers inspire one another,’ adds Van der Laken. Preparations for a partner event called What Design Can Do in Sao Paulo later this year are at an advanced stage.

Campana Brothers-Racket Chair Circles;image © What Can Design Do!

As in previous years, the line-up for What Design Can Do Amsterdam combines headline names and surprising talents.Francis Kéré is an architect who designs wonderful schools in his poverty-stricken home country of Burkina Faso.Ole Scheeren, a former partner at OMA, the architecture firm of Rem Koolhaas, is one of Germany’s leading architects.

Diébédo Francis Kéré;image © David Heerde

Diébédo Francis Kéré CSPS;image © What Can Design Do!

Also taking the stage at What Design this year:Michael Murphy of the non-profit design office MASS, branding specialist Michael Johnson, founder of Superuse Studios Césare Peeren, ‘kitchen incubator’ Cynthia Shanmugalingam, Professor Paul Hekkert of Delft University, poster designer Alejandro Magallanes, artist Jan Rothuizen with his Refugee Republic, and the Campana Brothers: the first Brazilian furniture designers whose work has been added to the collection of the Modern Museum of Art in New York. 

Stefan Sagmeister;image © John Madere

WDCD 2015 Themes

The program of WDCD 2015 is grouped around four currently relevant themes.This year speakers and breakout participants will discuss the designer’s role in the fields of cultural consciousness, humanity, urban issues and senses.You can see the details about the themes from here.

Tadao Ando “From Emptiness To Infinity”-24 May / 16:00 (52 Min.) / Mathias Frick 

The documentary portrays one of the world’s most renowned architects: the Japanese ‘Master of Minimalism’ Tadao Ando.His award-winning brutalist architecture creates a spectacular connection between Japanese tradition and contemporary modernism.

What Film Can Do!

During the weekend after the conference, on May 23 and 24, De Balie and What Design Can Do present a collection of documentaries that focus on design. Such as Print the Legend, about how 3D printing is changing the world.Tadao Ando:From Emptiness to Infinity, about the Japanese Architect Tadao Ando.And Sign Painters in which the tradition of hand painted signs is being celebrated.

Microtopia-24 May / 14:00 (97 Min.) / Jesper Wachtmeister

How would you feel about carrying your home in your pocket or having clothes to live in? For most of us, “house” means stability, structure, and permanence. In an age of increasing population and technological gains, today’s mobile society has resulted in a demand, or perhaps a dream, for portable dwellings and dwellings in new settings and situations.

Microtopia explores how architects, artists and ordinary problem-solvers are pushing the limits to find answers to their dreams of portability, flexibility – and of creating independence from “the grid”. Modern nomads, homeless people, people in stress, people in need of privacy or seclusion. We hear about the personal reasons behind the dwellings, and to see how they actually work. On the sidewalk, on rooftops, in industrial landscapes and in nature we will see and feel how these abodes meet the dreams set up by their creators. Microtopia deals with contemporary urgent ideas that are addressed, and solved, in a very surprising way.

21 May – 26 July / Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam
Stedelijk | Exhibition What Design Can Do!

Studio Dror
Campana Brothers
Rogier Klomp
Daisy Gisberg
Bompas & Parr

The Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam and the international design platform What Design Can Do proudly present a dynamic program showcasing recent and new work by designers who participated in the yearly What Design Can Do conference.The exhibition What Design Can Do opens on the 21st of May, on the ground floor of the museum.This exhibition is dedicated to WDCD’s background story and to a selection of designers who participated in this year’s conference or in previous editions,please get more information from here.

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