Here at WDCD, we are obviously big fans of design projects that bring people together. So you can imagine our interest in the evocatively named initiative, Age of Wonderland, a new collaborative project by Baltan Laboratories and Hivos, in which six creatives from Asia, Africa and South America have been invited to work on conceptual, social and technological innovations. The resulting experiments and ideas will be presented to the public during the upcoming Dutch Design Week (DDW) from 18-26 October in Eindhoven.
Age of Wonderland kicked off on the 13th of September, which means that as you read this the six young engineers, artists and designers will already be working away in Eindhoven, led by DDW Ambassador and artist Arne Hendriks. Together with local talents, their work will focus on social innovations around the themes of hacking, foreign policy, public transport, cultural genetics and music.
As the recipient of last year’s Future Concepts Award with the ‘The Incredible Shrinking Man’, Hendriks is no stranger to the power of design thinking, and points out the relevance of this exchange: ‘Population growth leads to a threat of scarcity. Of water, food, space and other resources to be able to lead a high-quality life. For many people in Africa, South America and Asia, this is a reality. It seems to me to be of vital importance to involve designers who grow up in these circumstances, hands-on experts therefore, in the acceptance of these challenges.’
The six creatives who will be tackling these challenges are Andreas Siagian, Seterhen Akbar Suriadinata (Indonesia), Roy Ombatti (Kenya), Sandra Suubi (Uganda), David Marín (Guatemala) and José Montealegre (Nicaragua). For more information on everyone involved (and even to find out how you can contribute to the project yourself) keep an eye on their fantastically orange website ageofwonderland.nl.