Culture

Porto Design Biennale 2019 features arts organisation based in Porto and Matosinhos

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Miguel Nogueira

Porto Design Biennale (PDB) opened on 19th September 2019 and it runs till 8th December. This is the first time that Portugal organises a Biennale with the purpose of promoting the internationalisation of creative design thinking.

PDB 2019 is the result of recent and robust municipal investment in culture by the cities of Porto and Matosinhos, and it is organised by the esad-idea - Research in Design and Art.

Rui Moreira stated that: "this represents the epilogue to a policy that has been developed by the two City Halls [Porto and Matosinhos], in the cultural context in which design has a fundamental impact for us", on occasion of the PDB's inauguration.

This first edition of Porto Design Biennale (PDB) advances a programme to rethinking design in the new millennium, under the umbrella topic "Post Millennium Tension 2019" and focus on contemporaneity and urban environment.

The first invited country is Italy. This event was brought to life as of 19th September 2019, with the inauguration of the exhibition "Millennials - Design do Novo Milénio", at Porto Municipal Gallery.

The Biennale targets its aim at developing and internationalising design thinking and the role of design in the face of emerging challenges, while seeking to trace the projects and work processes by the Millennials, aka Generation Y or the Net Generation, usually named this way to refer to individuals who reached adulthood around the turn of the 21st century, in a framework of accelerated tensions at global level, be it identity wise, geopolitical, financial, environmental and technological.

José Bártolo, curator of the PDB, stated that "Porto Design Biennale is designed to foster what already exists with a major event taking place every two years, establishing the debate between the Universities and business so as to develop critical thinking".

PDB suggests manifold activities, to be held in several venues in the cities of Porto and Matosinhos. On 23rd and 24th November and on 7 and 8 December, Laurem Crossetti, Isabeli Santiago, Alicia Medeiros present The (Mis)Guided Tours, in Porto and in Matosinhos. See here for further information.

The Porto Design Biennale kicked off on 19th September and concludes on 8th December 2019. The event is expected to attract close to 100 thousand visitors.

See here the full programme.