In 2013 the festival focuses on the crossovers of contemporary design, on the intersections that design createswith architecture, fine arts, crafts or digital technologies. In recent years contemporary design has been pushed by a range of significant external forces to redefine itself and explore new forms of expression. The economic crisis has increased the demand for cheap products, thanks to modern technologies (for example 3D printing) practically anyone can become a designer, while professionals these days can not disregard new aspects like social responsibility or recycling. The economic, social and cultural changes of the past few years, as well as the transformation of the values of consumer societies again put the technologies of craftsmanship forward that have till now been in sharp contrast with the traditional interpretation of design, the image of industrial, standardised products. Contemporary design is characterised by high tech and low tech at once, by uniqueness and a democratic dimension, by high technical quality and contingency – BudapestDesignWeek 2013 aims at nothing less than giving an update about this extremely exciting process.
Following on the popular initiative of the past few years, in 2013 Budapest Design Week's Guest of Honour is Italy. Programs organised by BudapestDesignWeek in the framework of the event series realised with close to 300 cooperating partners and attracting 60 thousand visitors year after year, are among the most popular parts of the festival: the opening exhibition displaying international and Hungarian pieces will again open in Design Terminal, the Open Studios initiative, the Design Week Discount, the DesignTours, as well as gastronomy programs will all take place, while there will be even more creative workshops for adults and children. Similarly to previous years, a star designer guest is also being invited and the most prestigious awards of the design profession (Hungarian Design Awards, Design Management Award) are also presented in the framework of the program series.Celebrating the tenth anniversary of the festival, an English language BudapestDesignMap (commissioned by the HungarianDesign Council) calling the attention of tourists to the design treasures of the city is being issued for the first time ever. Appearing in the beginning of summer, the map and the accompanying mobile application present basic information about over 130 Budapest-based design businesses and organisations arranged in thematic groups. The anniversary year brings in further changes: the festival returns with a fresh, exciting image and a renewed web site meeting the requirements of our time both in its appearance and content.
Another change this year is that Rita Mária Halasi resigned from her position as the curator of BudapestDesignWeek and her scope of duties have been taken over by Judit Osvárt as the project leader of the festival. During the over five-year creative work of Rita Mária Halasi as the curator, the festival celebrating its tenth anniversary this year has become the defining event of the Hungarian design profession. Judit Osvárt worked as the editor-in-chief of the Hungarian versions of Elle Dekor and H.O.M.E., and recently as one of the owners of Boook Publishing and as a communication consultant.
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