Celebrating one year of DRAFTS

DRAFTS highlights the research process – thinking, ideating and suggesting ideas – as expressed through the design artifacts. The series of experimental exhibitions presents various examples and interpretations of what a research artifact is or could be.

The first physical-virtual international exhibition DRAFTS 1: Design Research Artifacts as an Intermediary Knowledge was hosted by Pakistan Institute of Fashion and Design (PIFD) from the 1st – 13th April 2021 in Lahore, Pakistan.

Over the years, the project has grown, and we had the honor to be part of the 1st International Art Triennial Unpredictable Futures UFNA. Research project DRAFTS 2: Design Research Artifacts in the Context of Exhibition was a part of UFNA from the 2nd July – 4th Oct 2021 in Moletai, Lithuania. The exhibition consisted of three venues exhibiting works of more than sixty artists, designers, and researchers.

RAFTS 3: Communicating Knowledge through Design Research Artifacts. DRAFTS 3 is organized and curated by Jan Tepe, Vidmina Stasiulyte, and Faseeh Saleem. In an international collaboration between the Berlin University of the Arts and the University of Borås – The Swedish School of Textiles, artistic research-based works are presented at designtransfer as part of an exhibition, a performance festival, and a symposium. These activities are accompanied by a one-day event at the Berlin Open Lab, during which MA students of the organizing institutes present their design projects together with MA students of the Kunsthochschule Weißensee, HTW Berlin, and the HfS Ernst Busch to discuss the role of artifacts in design processes from their perspectives. The exhibition is scheduled from the 12th – 20^th May 2022 in Berlin, Germany.