With 18 years behind its back, the Budapest exhibition and event series is the most significant and – with regard to its substance – the most complete unit of the DWB project; its segments are going to be exhibited subsequently in Bratislava as well.The venue is the Kiscell Museum; with its rich collection of local history and contemporary visual art,as well as innovative and colourful programmes it is one of Budapest’s best-loved museums. On the one hand, the DWB project will be housed in the museum’s magical church hall, its dimensions and milieu serving as the perfect backdrop for the all-arts project; on the other hand, contemporary carpets and glass art pieces will be exhibited in the permanent exhibition spaces of the museum’s historical rooms.

The aim of the DWB Budapest exhibition is to present visual and performing artists,who normally appear together only rarely, in the same location as an organic whole.The exhibition is arranged into thematic units; within these units the works of artists from different countries, regions and generations are presented with the help of information boards and films. The exhibited object arrangements are augmented by modern and contemporary music concerts and contemporary dance performances.(The concerts will also feature pieces by composers from V4 countries.) DWB creates a novel all-arts quality. This novel quality is recorded by the DWB films, which -besides the project’s website and YouTube channel – will form the most important body of content at the subsequent exhibition in Bratislava and at the presentations in Helsinki. (The presentations in Helsinki will serve to pave the way for a future exhibition cycle.)The organisers created the DWB Awards in 2014. The goal of the awards is to raise awareness to the importance of sponsorship, social responsibility and supporting culture. Its recipients are primarily up-and-coming designers.Thus far, the awards have been sponsored by the Visegrad Fund and other organisations, arts foundations, art collectors and businesses.

The most important themes of the DWB exhibition:- Presenting eco-conscious projects that promote sustainable development. E.g. the presentation of the material studies of Alvar Aalto University will receive high priority. (This will be the core content of the subsequent workshop in Helsinki.)- Presentation of the objects, creations, films etc. born out of the wider interpretation of design and conceived on the boundaries of different art disciplines; particularly ofone of the genres most capable of progressive renewal: the major creators of contemporary jewellery art (eg. selection of Legnica Jewellery Festival); since 2022 is the year of glass art,the representatives of this genre (eg. selection of Czech glass artists – Studio Dechem) will also play a significant role;the so-called TEXHIBITION project is a seven-year tradition whereby the achievements of textile artists and manufacturers are presented;one or two major iconic creators are highlighted each year etc.- DWB assigns a significant role to the introduction of various arts universities in order to showcase the works of various universities outside the region to V4 country students and to facilitate person-to-person contacts at the meeting. The following universities from the V4 region will be involved – see under Target group 20. – ,and from outside the V4 region the works of students from universities outside the V4 region -see under Target group 20. – will be showcased.- One of DWB’s most important segments is the in-person and/or online meeting(depending on the epidemiological situation), where 10-minute presentations in English will introduce us to each other’s work and reveal ideas for concrete joint projects (this year’s meeting will focus heavily on this latter aspect).- DWB’s website and social media sites are important both for the general public and researchers.

Design without borders exhibition and all-arts event series in Bratislava

Date: March 5 – April 11 2023

Venue: Slovak Union of Visual Arts – Gallery Umelka

Dostojevského rad 2, 811 09 Bratislava, Szlovákia

The Bratislava exhibition is the organic continuation of the DWB Budapest exhibition.Its goal is to present the international project beyond the capitol of Hungary in Bratislava and to take advantage of Vienna’s proximity and reach out to the Austrian audience.The exhibition will present a topical selection of the Budapest exhibition and the films of the all-arts events of the Budapest project.The Bratislava venue of the DWB project would be the renewed Umelka Gallery with its bright spaces and clean architecture, a counterpoint to the historical spaces of Budapest’s Kiscelli Museum.This aspect will be considered when selecting the exhibition material, thus compelling textile art creations and statue-like objects, as well as the works of contemporary jewellery artists will be prioritised for exhibition, augmented by the films and photos of the Budapest project.The Bratislava exhibition will primarily reach out to the Slovakian audience, and –taking advantage of the proximity of Vienna and the cooperation of Austrian exhibitors and partners – would like to reach out to the Austrian audience too.

Partners of the Visegrad Fund tender:

Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Bratislava https://www.vsvu.sk/

Budapest History Museum http://kiscellimuzeum.hu/

Design Institute of Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design https://mome.hu/en/terulet/formatervezes

Góbi Dance Company https://www.gobirita.hu/

Ladislav Sutnar Faculty of Design and Art https://sutnar.fdu.zcu.cz

Łódź Art Center http://lodzartcenter.com/

Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design (Architecture) https://mome.hu/en/terulet/epiteszet

Slovak Union of Visual Arts https://svu.sk/en/home/

Technical University in Zvolen https://kdni.tuzvo.sk/

The Gallery of Art in Legnica https://silver.legnica.eu/