useless life, (edited from pdf)

useless life
designs for a sustainable lifestyle
design exhibition
01- 31 may, 2009
kaohsiung design festival
kaohsiung city, taiwan

Produced by Utterubbish Pte Ltd
Curated by Jackson Tan, Black Design

Utterubbish! is a unique design experience that presents ideas, works and exhibits by leading international designers and creators unified in their exploration on how design can create value for individuals, society and the world, whether Social, Cultural, Emotional, Functional, Economic, Commercial or Intellectual. It engages the audiences in presentations that dramatically highlight the role and direction design plays in creating a sustainable future.

introduction
•Utterubbish is an original multi-disciplinary design project
•Utterubbish is based on the premise that Design creates value, whether Social, Economic, Commercial, Cultural, Functional, Emotional or Intellectual
•Allows the audience to participate in the design process from beginning
•Highlights how seemingly useless ideas may be translated into interesting, intriguing and imaginative designs or products
•A witty review of recycling, redemption and recourse through sustainable design
•An ironic look at how one man’s trash is another man’s treasure
•A study of how modern consumers perceive value and how design may affect such perceptions
•It brings together the collective talents of the most progressive international designers
•It covers a wide range of creative disciplines, including product design, fashion, graphic & environmental design and architecture
•The inaugural Utterubbish exhibition premiered at the Singapore Design Festival in 2009
•The inaugural exhibition was critically acclaimed by the international media and garnered awards and nominations for it’s innovative concept and design
•The latest edition of the Utterubbish exhibition will be launched at the Kaohsiung Design Festival in May 2009 in Kaohsiung City, Taiwan

exhibition concept / design / info
•The title of the new edition of Utterubbish is titled, Useless Life
•The theme of the new edition is based on the concept of “designs for a sustainable lifestyle”
•The exhibition will feature creative designs that promotes sustainable living
•The audience will be able to interact with and contribute to certain parts of the exhibits
•The exhibition concept will touch on how design can create value in the different aspects of our lives / lifestyles / living environment
•The exhibition venue will be visually transformed and regenerate the old Kaohsiung pier warehouses into a conceptual “living environment” of sustainable design
•It will be branded “Useless Loft” and designed / constructed as a conceptual “home”
•Each thematic area of the “Useless Loft” will feature different parts of the “home”
•The audience will be able to experience the concept of “sustainable lifestyle” when they journey thru the exhibition
•The design / construction and material usage of the exhibition will adhere to the concepts of the Useless Ideas of “Less is More”, “Less Money More Value”, “Less Resource More Creativity”
• The exhibition will demonstrate how design plays a part in our daily lives
Rather than discourse, the show is experiential and immersive. By encouraging participation in the various exhibits, the design process is demystified and allows the visitor to clearly see his own role in the design chain and enabling and empowering him to make better choices for design
•Such as approach becomes engaging for the man-in-the-street and widens the reach of the Kaohsiung Design Festival to include almost everyone

exhibiting designers / designs
• The exhibition will comprise a collection of international designers and designs that relates to the core theme and concept of the show
• The designers / designs will be grouped and featured in the various thematic areas such as “Useless Objects”, “Useless Fashion”, “Useless Food”...etc
• The designers / designs will be from various design disciplines and medium
• Around 15 design presentations and 70 design ideas will be featured in the exhibition
•Confirmed designers:
Marti Guixe (Spain)
Treasured Trash (Japan)
Stuart Haygarth (England)
[re]design (England)
thomas.matthews (England)
Little Red Dot (Singapore)
Orca Design (Singapore)
Maki Squarepatch (Singapore)
Jonathan Harris (United States)
Artecnica (United States)
Trent Jansen (Australia)
Reincarnation (Taiwan)

Curator:
Jackson Tan, Black Design, Singapore

Jackson Tan is co-founder of Black Design an award winning visual communications agency based in Singapore. Curator of Singapore Design Festival 2007's feature exhibition 'UtterRubbish', a design exhibition a collection of more than 30 international and local designers / presentations. Overarching themes includes sustainable design and eco-design, design activism, promotion of craft and how design can create value for self, society and the world for a sustainable future. In 2008, Black design also curated 'New Wave: Singapore's contemporary Design Culture', which exhibited at the Center for Creative Communications; Shizuoka, Japan. The same exhibition will be showing at 6th Taiwan Design Expo in October 2009.

Jackson Tan is also a partner of Phunk Studio, a creative collective in Singapore. Described by UK's best selling design magazine, Creative Review as "The Champion of Singapore's Graphic Scene". Computer Arts magazine wrote that "The rise of :phunk has been so meteoric that the entire Singaporean design scene has grown exponentially with it" and described by Icon magazine as "Singapore's most important design collective". Phunk Studio is also well known and appreciated in Taiwan; they have participated in conferences and exhibitions here frequently. Including the 'Universality' exhibition at Museum of Contemporary Art Taipei in 2007, as well as collaborations with Taipei's Phalanx Creative to produce designer toys.