PORTO DESIGN BIENNALE

The event, promoted by the Porto and Matosinhos municipalities and organized by esad—idea, Research in Design and Art, will be activated in both cities between the 4th of June and the 25th of July. Proposing Alter-Realities: Designing the Present as its central theme, PDB’21 intends to stimulate the debate around design’s ability to outline new solutions for collective problems, at a time when the world faces new challenges and uncertainty regarding the usage, planning and sustainability of urban centers, citizens' mobility and the way in which public spaces can remain as a catalyst for experiences.

“We are tired of real, imagined or manipulated multiple crises. Inaction deepens our weariness, blunts our intellect, dulls our bodies and erodes our souls. We need to re-make worlds, re-animate ourselves and forge new relations while rejecting unsustainable hegemonies and divisive ideologies. Designing in the present can show us how to live better despite times of contagion and crisis.” explains Fuad-Luke

In addition to the usual formats, such as exhibitions, conferences, workshops and publications, Alastair Fuad-Luke's curatorship will also respond to the challenges of programming under the current context and across the territory of both cities. The guest country for PBD 2021 is France, which will have a dedicated program, in line with the general theme of this edition.

Porto Design Biennale 2021 will co-create a dialogue platform between society, academia, industry, institutions, national and international cultural agents, building bridges between identities and the sense of belonging from a local to a global scale, as well as championing Design as an indispensable tool in rethinking “glocalization”, the circulation of goods and people, different modes of production and consumption and the growing presence of technology in human life.

The first edition of Porto Design Biennale, organized in 2019, gathered around 50,000 people over 81 days, in a vast program including more than 300 projects and 60 events, such as exhibitions, workshops, performances, installations and conversations, presented in 37 spaces of the cities of Porto and Matosinhos, involving 20 curators and 310 participants from 18 nationalities.