The international design, architecture and creativity biennial EXD'11 - Experimenta Design is back in Lisboa to create a stir in the city's historic centre with dozens of events bustling with creativity and cutting edge spirit,  from September 28 to November 27.

Taking inspiration from the theme of "Useless" (itself a provocation), EXD's 11th edition will bring together hundreds of professionals and creatives in the Portuguese capital around the idea of use and disuse, useful and useless, proposing new interpretations of what is produced and consumed. Lisboa will thus be the platform of choice for exchanging ideas and experiences through an extensive and eclectic program consisting of exhibitions, urban interventions, conference cycles, debates, film screenings, among other initiatives.

The Biennial's 21 core events and more than 50 parallel ones will be held in the most diverse cultural facilities and other lesser-known public venues in Lisboa's most landmark areas. The Biennial's already close links to the city are embodied this year with the geographical concentration of EXD'11 venues in the centre of the Portuguese capital, all within walking distance of each other from Amoreiras to Alfama, including Baixa-Chiado.

Ever closer to the general public, EXD'11 extends even to the most unexpected places such as gardens, palaces and theatres, thus inviting its visitors and all who pass through Lisboa to learn more about the city's historic and architectural heritage, in a harmonious combination of tradition and modernity.

The EXD Lounging Space will be housed in the heart of Chiado, at the former courthouse of Tribunal da Boa Hora, acting as the main hub of the biennial with its visitors. Here visitors can enjoy a lounge area, bar, information centre and its own activities program.

Held in Lisboa since 1999, the Biennial is regarded as one of the boldest international events in its sector, placing Lisboa on the international map of the world's creative and cultural industries. 

The opening week starts in 7 days. see the schedule here http://ow.ly/6Altp ... and let's go. 

Our world is full of daring people. It is the passion and determination of these people that continue to inspire many of us by developing and implementing things that captivate our senses. 'Gulp' is a world record breaking short film by Aardman Animations and Wiedeb + Kennedy for Nokia.  Only shot with the new Nokia N8 and highlighting its 12-megapixel camera, Aardman's creative team Sumo Science, Will Stud and Ed Patterson, venture into a public beach to shoot the largest stop motion animation film ever. How can the world's largest stop motion film be shot with the smallest of cameras? This video shows a behind the scenes look at the process, team effort and also challenges to making this possible.

Luanda, 6.000.000 of inhabitants. 60% can't access pure water. 75% can't access to electricity or sanitation. Garbage is part of the landscape. 2.000 tons of garbage are retired every month. They don't notice them anymore. The idea was to call the attention to all the abandon garbage on the streets, the pieces of anybody, and give them a fresh new look, calling the attention to this noble cause.

“I must admit that I wake up extra early to read the chapters (blushing) I never use to go to the library but… i feel like i have a library on my phone and its great , YAY!” — Yoza reader

Designed to encourage reading, writing and responding, Yoza engages African youth with stories and social issues. The project, which was spearheaded by Steve Vosloo, a technology researcher in Cape Town, and financed by South Africa’s Shuttleworth Foundation, is dedicated to a participatory culture hungry for micro-doses of literature that are accessible as pixels not paper.

Officially launched last September, Yoza is based on Vosloo’s observations that African youth are book-poor yet mobile-rich. An estimated 90 percent of urban South African youth have access to cell phones, and 70 percent of those phones are web-enabled. In stark contrast, more than half of South African households own no leisure books and only 7 percent of public schools have functional libraries.

Yoza’s first story, Kontax, was released experimentally in 2009. Written by Sam Wilson, an author and scriptwriter, Kontax followed the adventures of a local graffiti crew around Cape Town. Its 20 pages were initially published over a month of daily dispatches via a mobisite and later on the popular MXit social network. Each episode, released in both English and isiXhosha, was around 400 words long. Prizes were offered for the best readers’ comments and sequel ideas.

Via Yoza, 17,000 users accessed the full premiere Kontax series — well eclipsing the South African “best-seller” standard of 5,000 book sales. Each chapter costs the reader around 1 US cent to download. Explains Vosloo, “Mobile data is cheap relative to voice and SMS — and of course, books. It’s also about access.” According to Vosloo, readership exploded when Yoza was made available to MXit’s 15 million local subscribers — a share currently far greater than Facebook’s.

The comments allow Vosloo to stay in touch with what readers want. “It’s become clear that youth are keen to be both educated and entertained,” he notes. “We get many requests for stories which are relevant to their lives. We’ve had requests for story lines which cover drugs and teen pregnancy, careers, money and more.” Feedback has helped to shape several narratives in the works, including Streetskillz, which is set during the South African–hosted World Cup soccer matches; Sisterz, which explores dark family secrets and teenage life; and Confessions of a Virgin Loser, which follows a boy steering his way through the complications of peer pressure, teenage sex and HIV/AIDS. Social issues provide a further avenue for interaction. A story that touched on domestic violence elicited a slew of comments in support of the affected character as well as personal accounts.

Alongside content derived from popular culture, Yoza has published versions of classics from Shakespeare to Wordsworth. Feedback from teachers in low-income schools tells of class assignments given in conjunction with Yoza content and applauds the access to literature the platform has provided. Comments across the site (often in text-speak) reveal an engaged audience ready to amend mistakes that have eluded Yoza’s editors.

Looking to the future, Vosloo has been speaking with potential sponsors; he approached one bank about a series that would weave financial literacy into its storyline. Sponsors are attracted to a medium that stimulates appetite by releasing stories in installments before making the entire series available on a website, where it continues to attract commentary. “It’s a bit like the transition from a box-office to DVD release,” Vosloo says. “There’s the initial rush to devour a fresh feature yet the legacy contributes to a growing library of accessible content.”

In an age of mass production,Sthephem Burks ’ exhibition Man Made presented in The Studio Museum in Harlem, in New York is a welcome distraction, which makes us reconsider both the conceptual and the aesthetical value of a handmade object, or design product.

The exhibition is inspired by Burks collaboration with Senegalese basket weavers based in New York and Dakar as well as projects with artisans in South Africa, Peru and India. Basket weaving technique will be applied in a number of different objects, from tables and lamps to chairs.

 The Studio Museum in Harlem, which was found in 1968, is a contemporary art museum that focuses on the work of artists of African descent locally, nationally and globally. This exhibition places back on the map, the art of a handmade object and reaffirms the significance of traditional ways of designing functional and beautiful products.

www.forjapanwithlove.com

Integrated into the Pro-Digit@l, the event "The Design Planet 2011" will bring together some of the best designers in the world to Lisbon, on 11, 12 and 13 February at FIL.

The workshops will be taught by names like Si Scott, Jennifer Cirici, Oscar Mariné, Iñigo Jerez, Bruno Selles, Borja Borreiro, and the Portuguese João Rei e Tiago da Silva, Design Planet. We will also feature a Digital Classroom Apple.

Also included in this new area will be an exhibition of the best portuguese graphic projects produced in 2010 (Prémios de Design da Meios & Publicidade).


More information:
http://www.pro-digit.com/feria2011/design_planet/design.html

Ticket Online:
http://prodigital2011.eventbrite.com/

For Bruno and Gerson, that tomorrow will be in London for seven hours before flying to Dubai, here's a good suggestion:

Today, January 4, reopens “Reverting to Type”, an exhibition that highlights the charm and importance of printing techniques through the work of 20 modern day letterpress practitioners from around the world. There’s no need to detail the demise of print, yet exhibitions like "Reverting to Type" continue the legacy and beauty of printed materials. 

In this video, the exhibition's curators Graham Bignell and Richard Ardagh intends to present this art show in London. 'Reverting to Type' will close Jan. 22, 2011.

Here's the address :

Standpoint Gallery

January 4th – January 22nd, 2011

45 Coronet Street

London

N1 6HD

England

Enjoy it Guys.