Beijing Design Week - Crafting Connections

2009 - Dr Rohan McNichol

Crafting Connections - Beijing Design Week

Crafting Connections

This diverse exhibition showcases Craft and Design from the Australian National University (ANU), School of Art (SoA). In Australia it has been famously said that the Arts, including Craft and Design, provide “windows into realities under construction”.

The exhibition will showcase the potential of Craft and Design to generate scalable and transferable propositions for our built environments, including for example, methods applicable to the preservation and revitalisation of the Dashilar hutong district. Craft and Design is an enduring international concern and platform for doing the important work of fostering vibrant communities in the post-industrial era. “Crafting Connections” will showcase craft and design approaches that draw on ancient traditions and working methods to propose contemporary solutions for ‘being together’ on this rapidly changing planet. Physically living together is no longer possible in a world centred around digital experience, so ‘being together’ is the only option we have. “Crafting connections” proposes that Craft and Design are the enduring threads capable of binding together our collective futures across cities, across cultures and across time.

This exhibition provides a starting point for dialogue between the craft and design communities in Canberra, Australia and Beijing, China. We come to Beijing with the wish to establish a platform for the exchange of cultural traditions, knowledge, and ideas for our shared future on this planet.