WHAT IS YOUR PERSONAL EXPERIENCE OF URBAN SHADE?

The Design Museum Holon, together with Beracha Foundation, has developed a three-year-long research, initiative and design project centered on the potential functions of shade and shading systems in urban life.
With the support of the Holon Municipality, an international competition for the design of shading spaces was held with the aim of selecting and installing the five winning proposals in the city. A special dedicated web platform was also launched on the museum website, enabling the public to share their ideas on the importance of shade in the urban sphere.
The overall goal was to collect an international and horizontal perspective on this subject.

In July 2015, the exhibition “Shade for a Social Change” (working title) will mark the end of this long process, in conjunction with the publication of a major book edited by Dr. Martin Weyl.

The exhibition will sprawl throughout the museum’s interior and exterior spaces, and will be displayed in three different galleries that will entertain a dialogue with one another.

A) In the area surrounding the museum building, visitors may use and experience the shaded spaces selected in the above-mentioned competition in the form of models built on a 1:1 scale.

B) The exhibition in the museum’s Lower Gallery, curated by Galit Gaon (Chief Curator of Design Museum Holon), will be conceived of as a research laboratory, while presenting visitors with the works that participated in the competition and related professional and practical information. The chief aim of this display is to encourage and generate a public debate on various forms of natural shading (i.e. vegetation) and artificial shading.

C) The Upper Gallery, curated by guest curator Prof. Bárbara Coutinho (Director of MUDE – Museum of Design and Fashion, Lisbon), will focus on the human behaviors promoted by natural or artificial shade, and explore this subject from the perspective of product and fashion design.

D) The main goal of this display is to highlight the universal need for shade in both the physical and the metaphysical senses of this term. Structured by means of behavioral verbs, the exhibition stresses the importance of shade in creating a holistic experience of human happiness, and attends to the psychological, health-related, emotional, and social dimensions of this experience. Photography, literature, religion, and poetry will introduce the different cultural perspectives on this concept. Another significant element will be a presentation of traditional ways of creating a shady environment in different cultures, and related craft practices.

We would like to invite you to share with us your thoughts about shade and its importance for mankind in the form of a short text (500 words or less), a relevant quote, or a visual image of an artwork or design product you associate with this theme. Your contribution will contribute to thinking more globally about this subject.

Our intention is to collect the contributions and use them to create a wall in the exhibition gallery (with proper credits to all contributors), with the aim of enriching museum visitors and inspiring them to be more aware of the importance of shade.

I look forward to your answer. Please write back to dmh.org.il@gmail.com, if possible by December 15.

Visit  Design Museum Holon  page.