The Elephant in the Room
“The Elephant in the Room” focuses on design issues which tend to be left by the wayside, bypassed both intellectually and practically. In 1814, Ivan Krylov (1769–1844), a poet and fabulist, wrote a fable entitled “The Curious Man,” about a man who goes to a museum and notices all sorts of tiny things, but fails to notice an elephant. The phrase has become an apt metaphorical expression for an obvious controversial question or potentially embarrassing or inflammatory issue never mentioned or discussed by anyone no matter how conspicuous, even though it is known by all.

The “Elephant in the Room” motif of the International Design Week organized by the Faculty of Design uses this is metaphor to give center stage to design treatments of subjects which are either ignored due to political or social embarrassment or lack the luster or appeal of other subjects. The ability of design to address topics from the “forgotten” or “neglected” status and place them at the forefront is especially relevant, particularly in the cases of more complex or controversial issues. The end process of design, which impacts directly on the user or consumer, sheds a new light and offers a different validity to issues that are often abandoned as part of the endless race to innovate and create new markets.

Academic design study must be the entity which seeks out and explores that “elephant in the room.” While professional design is by necessity dictated by commercial efficiency and the “bottom line,” the academy can unburden itself from these shackles and use the power awarded by this freedom to influence the future generation of designers. The role of the design academe is to open itself to the “hidden” issues which may lie outside the consensus and to use this advantage to expose a whole new world ripe for artistic exploration. Proposals for workshops may refer to any design challenge which best expresses the literal and symbolic meaning of “elephant in the room,” and which can generate a fruitful dialogue through the design process.

The workshops will take place on March 2-6, (Sunday to Thursday) between 09:00–18:00 (UTC +2)
The workshops are intended for 4th year students in the three bachelor’s degrees of the Faculty of Design: Visual Communication , Industrial Design and Interior Design.
The workshops will be conducted in English.