Beijing Design Week 2013: Everything You Need to Know

The overview for Beijing Design Week 2013 (BJDW) is out, and boy oh boy is it long. Here’s a snapshot of the 10-page press release we received. There’s no doubt in our minds that from Sept 26 to Oct 3 Beijing will be charged with creativity.

A word on BJDW:
Since UNESCO designated Beijing as a City of Design in 2012, BJDW is hoping to reinforce the capital’s role as an, “ongoing observatory, acting both as an infrastructural provider and a cultural connective system.” That basically means our city has the tools and resources to foster a wicked international design community and BJDW intends to back that up with a week jammed full of creative events.

Creative Director Beatrice Leanza will be making Beijing the “stage” and today’s design trends the “script” to tell a “story” in our streets. In other words, her and her team are delivering truckloads of art, designs and cool ideas for the city to look at and talk about. This is a pretty big deal.

Here’s what’s going to happen over those seven days:

Main Exhibition
Design studios from around the globe and ten university labs are contributing 70 pieces to BJDW’s centerpiece – Smart City 2013. The exhibition will be held at China Millennium Monument of Digital Arts, and will explore digital innovation in urban planning and development.

Design Forum
This is a big talk organized in cooperation with CCTV-2 and The New York Times that will be held at China World Summit on September 28. Speakers the likes of Marcel Wanders, Wang Min and Masayuki Kurokawa will join other specialists in media, design and finance to discuss China’s economic transition (as if there’s nothing else to talk about…) and look at how innovation in finance and marketing can help boost creative industries.

Watch: Videos Setup Beijing Design Week 2013

Guest City Program
This year’s guest city is Amsterdam, and the program has been adorably labeled, “Design goes Dutch.” Dutch artists in collaboration with their Chinese counterparts will be presenting their work at The Tank, Capital Museum and the China Museum of Digital Arts.

And then of course there’s the “Duck,” which you should know all about, but we’ll still interrupt this summary with some great snaps of Rubber Duck getting blown up upon arrival at the Beijing Garden Expo (via Beijing Cream).

Design HOP
This is the multi-location string of bangs BJDW will really make on the city. Here are the highlights: First, historical Dashilar alley gets the special treatment with loads of artists and architects exploring possibilities there for sustainable and “heritage friendly” urban development. A special lab called Dashilar Pilot has even been created as a base for this, and Yangmeizhu hutong will also be filled with neat infrastructure projects and more artistic stuff.

The Caochangdi neighborhood will be dressed in “experimentation” and “innovation.” A main pavilion will feature a hybrid display of traditional Guizhou embroidery and contemporary design. The latest in Chinese-made 3D experiences will be shown at RAWR 3D Experience Center, and a Design Laboratory space will be examining the change in materials and objects required for big-city life.

Third, 751 D.Park will be all about architecture with some astounding exhibitions that continue to explore the effect of the digital age on city life. But that’s not all – Beijing HOP will be city-wide and you can expect pop-up installations from Sanlitun to the Drum Tower.

Design Market
Property developers, home decorators and exclusive automobile brands will have a chance to present their top work in commercial districts such as Sanlitun, Solana, Guomao, Moma and Jinbao Street. Our guess (hope) is there will be some pretty fancy electric cars and maybe some "smart mirrors" or some such future age appliances to look at.

Of course that’s not exactly everything BJDW has in store for the city, but we now have a general idea what to expect. For full details visit the BJDW website.

Photos courtesy of Beijing Design Week