Radical Affection: Design for the Soul
Our Circular Cultures programme – delivered in collaboration with the Onassis Foundation’s international digital arts programme Onassis ONX – returns for a 7th consecutive year, aiming to promote sustainable design and circularity, foster critical dialogue and develop the skills and knowledge of creative leaders.
The Circular Cultures Design School (CC Design School) aims to serve as a platform for peer learning, a collaborative workspace and a hub for creative minds to converge. With a primary focus on raising awareness of sustainable design and circularity, we will foster critical discussions and empower creative leaders with enhanced skills and knowledge.
The second edition of the CC Design School invites creative professionals and businesses to experiment with new design practices, emerging technologies and sustainable materials. By examining how technology intersects with public and private realms and integrating playful elements, we explore new paradigms of design that challenge traditional notions of intimacy and propose radical, innovative and playful ways of engaging with our environments and each other.
Continuing with the thematic area of last year’s CC Design School ‘Materiality-Immateriality’, CC Design School 2025 will discuss the importance of radical affection and intimacy in design, which lies in its ability to transform how we interact with our surroundings and with each other. A third strand has been added to this year’s CC Design School, where the physicality of the environment intersects with the digitality of devices and technological objects.
We are now exploring how we connect emotionally both in physical and digital spaces, as well as constructing new forms of emotional connections with technological objects that increasingly blend into those spaces and into our daily lives. Participants will design for physical, virtual and hybrid spaces to create environments that offer affection, intimacy and togetherness.
Each strand is tailored to specific professional groups, fostering a deeper understanding and innovative approaches within their fields.
The working language of the programme is English.
CC Design School strands
Strand A: Materiality – Physical Intimacy
The first strand will delve into materiality in design and architecture, circular design and sustainability. This strand focuses on designing interactive, ethical solutions for our well-being in public spaces and public facilities that respect the materials. Participants will focus on playful urban design solutions for physical public spaces and public infrastructure such as public toilets, playgrounds and resting and shading areas. Participants will discuss how to use social design and the sense of play in order to connect public spaces to emotions, healing and community care.
Course leader: Sahra Hersi
Guest speakers: Ludd Lab
Target audience
- Architects
- Makers
- Urbanists/Urban Planners/Placemakers
- Sustainability Experts/Advisors
- Design Studios
Strand B: Immateriality – Virtual Affection
This strand explores how to use social design to build virtual communities and platforms that foster care, freedom and self-expression within communities. Participants will delve into immateriality through social games and experiences, examining how they can create collective empathy in the digital sphere. They will also dive into the technology of digital/social media filters and how they shape virtual identity and transform the public space.
Course leaders: Keiken
Guest speaker: Costas Kazantzis
Target audience
- Web Design Studios
- Game Development Studios
- Marketing Agencies
- UI/UX Companies
- Graphic Designers
- Artists
Strand C: Hybrid World – Animate Objects
As technology becomes increasingly embedded in our physical environments, we unlock new forms of interaction with our everyday objects and tech items that merge the digital and physical worlds. The lines between materiality and immateriality become increasingly blurred when it comes to our objects and environment.
Participants of the third strand will engage with our interactions with non-anthropomorphic objects, exploring how animacy and these interactions shape our emotional connections with them and extend the object’s lifecycle. The strand focuses on creating bonds with objects that lead to long-term, sustainable relationships and designing practices that engage us with our objects through playful interactions and gamification.
Course leader: Harry Krekoukiotis
Guest speaker: Lucy Hardcastle
Target audience
- Product Design Studios
- Tech Professionals
- Artists
- Designers
Applications
The programme is open to 60 participants maximum (15–20 for each strand) from different disciplines within the creative industries.
We invite creatives, makers and designers from all disciplines to participate in the CC Design School and contribute to the growth of the circular design community by sharing their experiences, knowledge and curiosity. We are looking for 60 participants with innovative ideas that promote dialogue and reflection around social, cultural and ethical issues, while adhering to the principles of sustainability and circularity.
Please note that participation is essential throughout the entire duration of the programme.
Although participation in the programme is on an individual basis, a single participant may represent organisations, groups or collectives.
To attend the CC Design School, submit your application by Wednesday 18 December 2024 (23.59 Greek time). Participation is free.
Selection process criteria
- Applicants submit detailed applications outlining their project or research interests.
- Evaluation focuses on how participation in the CC Design School enhances the applicant’s work.
- Emphasis on potential collaboration and knowledge exchange among participants.
- Value placed on projects enriching the learning environment and fostering a vibrant community.
- Assessment of the applicant’s capacity to actively contribute to the collective learning experience.
The results will be announced on 23 December 2024.
Curated by:
- Maria Papaioannou, Head of Arts, British Council Greece
- Prodromos Tsiavos, Head of Digital Policy and Development, Onassis Foundation
- Hannah Robinson, Architecture, Design and Fashion Programme Manager, British Council
About Circular Cultures
Circular Cultures is the British Council’s sustainable design and creative economies programme in EU Europe, which aims to promote greater awareness around sustainable design, circularity and making cultures. It aims to embed a more critical dialogue around design and circularity, develop the skills and knowledge of creative leaders, and create new EU networks around sustainability and circularity.
In Greece, Circular Cultures is organised in collaboration with Onassis Stegi and is an integral part of the broader collaboration between the British Council and the Onassis Foundation aimed at the development of an ongoing and action-oriented public space for ethical crafts, circular design, materials and fashion sustainability.
Circular Cultures is part of the British Council global programme Making Matters, which aims to foster a global dialogue around the topic of circular design. The multi-disciplinary programme explores how principles of the circular economy can be a catalyst for creativity, collaboration and regenerative thinking within architecture, design and fashion practice.
View previous editions of Circular Cultures.
Information
For further information, please contact Maria Papaioannou at Maria.Papaioannou@britishcouncil.gr.
The Circular Cultures Design School is co-produced with Onassis Foundation’s international digital arts programme Onassis ONX.