RFP: DCG Traveling Exhibition
The Design for the Common Good International Exhibition is prepared to travel and we are actively seeking proposals for our next venue!
Agency, empowerment, impact: these characteristics distinguish the work featured in the Design for the Common Good International Exhibition, an inaugural occasion where a coalition of five international organizations have come together to share best practices in public interest design. Collectively known as Design for the Common Good, the work shown here exemplifies ways communities, organizations, teams of designers, architects, landscape architects, planners, and more are creating positive change from the ground up. These typically localized scale-appropriate efforts are transformative in the places where they matter most—settings where there is a distinct call to action, a needed response to critical issues affecting people and their ability to live life at its fullest.
Representing design from around the world, the exhibition showcases projects from six continents and twenty-two countries curated from a selection of regional and network-nominated projects. Projects detail their community collaborations and participation methods, project goals and impacts, issues addressed, results, and post-occupancy among others. Evidence of this depth is found throughout the exhibition in photography, plans, videos, and narrative responses that acknowledge the inclusive process each project team has pursued.
While each project is unique in its methods, the fundamental philosophy of working to achieve community-derived and -driven goals are found throughout. To further realize this, exhibition projects have been grouped according to key issues addressed. Six dominant issues have emerged from this collection and serve as a framework for understanding how public interest design operates to maximize social, economic, and environmental impacts within communities across the globe. The issues are Equity, Education, Community, Cultural Heritage, Sustainability, and Urban Resilience.
Organization
Organization provided by the Design for the Common Good Network (DCGN) and supported in part by DCGN affiliate networks, Metropolitan State University of Denver, Center for Visual Art, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Overview
• A selection of curated projects from 22 countries and 6 continents representing five networks and regional inclusions
• Six issue groups define exhibition project themes and feature over 300 digitally printed images, featured videos, an animated title sequence, map projections, and the potential for additional project artifacts
• Interpretive information includes a curatorial statement, individual explanatory project texts and titling, issue banners and thematic texts, and project distribution maps all provided with English and Spanish translations
• A unique opportunity to grow the exhibition with host venue recommendation of regional projects for peer review
Value-Added Inclusions
Find the following embedded within the Design for the Common Good web portal:
• Exhibition app
• Exhibition catalog
Request for Proposals
Interested host venues and/or organizations are encouraged to contact the exhibition curator for terms and conditions of the travel agreement as well as travel logistics, insurance, and scale/size of the show and its inclusions. Funding exists to support travel in part and is dependent upon: the specifics of new show location; ability of the venue to manage exhibition assets with archival care; potential for travel after next destination; and length of show term as well as anticipated schedule.
Venues and/or organizations who align with the core philosophies of the exhibition theme and content are desirable.
Proposals to host the Design for the Common Good International Exhibition should include the following information , sent to contact listed below:
• Borrowing institution and/or venue, name and address
• Borrowing institution and/or venue mission
• Lead contact name, email, phone
• Square feet available for exhibition
• Desired exhibition schedule and timeline including opening and closing dates
• Ability to participate in the submission of regional projects for peer review: DCGN is committed to continuing the education and expanding the reach of public interest design work. To facilitate this we invite exhibiting venues to participate in a collaborative process with DCGN to grow the exhibition with the submission of additional projects representative of regional or local perspectives for potential inclusion in the hosted show.
• Ability to provide additional programming in conjunction with the exhibition such as roundtable discussion, lecture(s), or mini-conference
Contact:
Lisa M. Abendroth
Curator & Organizer, Design for the Common Good International Exhibition
[email protected]
Banner image project credit: InterACTION Labs; Community of Claverito, Traction, Pennsylvania State University, University of Washington, Centro de Investigaciones Tecnológicas Biomédicas y Medioambientales; Image: InterACTION Labs Team.
