Call for Applications: Jerusalem Design Week (Israel)

Jerusalem Design Week is proud to support a diverse lineup of projects and designers each year. The support for each project is determined by the needs of the project and the event. In keeping with our tradition, they are inviting individual designers and teams working in various design disciplines to respond to our annual theme and subcategories in their own way by developing new projects and ideas.

Launched in 2011, Jerusalem Design Week is Israel’s largest and most influential public event dedicated to design, with an extensive program of events, performances, and local and international design exhibitions.

Each year’s edition of Jerusalem Design Week revolves around a theme that explores situations rooted in the local context of Jerusalem and Israel while also bearing international relevance. This tradition is grounded in the belief that Israel’s singular cultural landscape enables it to serve as a living laboratory for exploring urgent global issues, and that design has a duty to respond to these issues. Thus, each year, individual designers and teams working in various design disciplines are invited to respond to the annual theme in their own way by developing new projects and ideas.

Now more than ever, the value of culture is put to the test. In times of crisis, they have the ability to take action and make a difference. Through creative work, they can begin to heal and redesign our future. This year, Jerusalem Design Week has made it its goal to support design initiatives and actions that turn our gaze inward to the design sphere and outward to society at large and consider the day after the current crisis.

Jerusalem Design Week is an initiative of the Ministry of Jerusalem and Heritage and the Jerusalem Development Authority. It is organized and managed by Hansen House and Ran Wolf Ltd.

Annual theme: The Ark

• The story of Noah’s Ark encapsulates many questions that have always concerned human culture in general and the design sphere in particular, and are now more pertinent than ever: How do they choose to preserve and save ourselves from ourselves? What will our world look like when the water recedes? How will they rise back up from this material and spiritual ruin?
• What is an ark? First and foremost, it is a place where they survive the flood. They gather there to preserve life, collect the raw materials they will need to build the new world, and look to the horizon in search of stability, even if our gaze is unsteady as the waves toss them about. An ark is resilience in a crisis, a temporary home, hope amid stormy seas.
• The contents of the ark are the result of curation, a process where choosing one thing over another creates a narrative, telling one story among many. The decision of what goes into the ark reflects value-based priorities that exist in the spaces between the poles of life and death, past and future, essence and excess, necessity and indulgence, preservation and annihilation.
• The story of the Ark is about a catastrophic disaster caused by evils attributed to humans, but at the same time, it is about a human endeavor—the architectural creation, the work of collecting, and the human act of taking responsibility for preservation—that brings about humanity’s salvation, redemption, and hope. The frequent use of verbs that denote action and creation in the biblical text emphasizes the human impulse to take action in times of emergency. They act because all action is a way to resist helplessness in the face of overwhelming destruction.

Categories

• Exhibition works 
  • The works featured in this year’s Jerusalem Design Week exhibitions will revolve around the myth of the Ark, focusing on two specific aspects within the general theme.
    • The Architectural Act 
      • The building of the Ark is an architectural, scientific, and philosophical act driven by one mission: to survive an impending crisis. Viewed allegorically, the Ark’s construction is a speculative work of design and engineering that has to take multiple considerations into account: extreme environmental conditions, complex systems, infrastructure for prolonged survival independently of the outside world, and the needs of humans and animals.
      • For this category, they invite you to submit new or existing small-to-medium-scale works in any medium. Submitted works must deal with design for extreme situations or in response to them and inquire about the role of design in planning for the future, the ecological and cultural survival of humanity and/or nature, and the tools available to them to fulfill this vital task.
    • The Collection 
      • Collecting and selecting the contents of the Ark is an act of curation that dictates the narrative for the new world that will arise after the flood. Questions regarding its contents touch on the very essence of life. They can think of this work as archiving meticulously gathering details from the present, from what is, to make cabinets of curiosities that preserve the past or as gathering building blocks for the future.
      • Works in this category can include installations for small spaces, mini-exhibitions, and existing or new collections. They are looking for works that function as time/knowledge/data capsules and explore the role of collections in cultural, spiritual, and scientific preservation processes from the preservation of local material culture and collective/intergenerational memory to genomes and biodiversity.
  • Types of support 
    • Existing works: artist’s fee
    • New works/exhibitions support will be based on a detailed budget
• Social design initiatives and collaborations 
  • Jerusalem Design Week has made it its mission to promote design for social causes and community benefit in times of war. The challenges brought about by this year’s devastating events are a clarion call for them to come together, organize into multidisciplinary teams where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts and do good, do better. Now more than ever, they need the design community to reexamine its purpose, expand its influence, and use its knowledge and skills to benefit society.
  • For this category, they are looking for collaborations between designers/guilds/collectives and nonprofits/communities/public bodies aiming to support and rehabilitate local communities and/or industries and economies.
  • Types of support 
    • Existing works: artist’s fee
    • New works/exhibitions: support will be based on a detailed budget
    • Externally funded proposals will be prioritized.
• Large outdoor works 
  • Jerusalem Design Week is a vibrant and dynamic event that welcomes 40,000 visitors each year. More than a mere design exhibition, it is a space for social and professional encounters, a platform where new ideas are born and shared, and a venue for lectures, performance art, and other events. For the spaces that host these events—the open public spaces of Hansen House, the inner courtyard, backyard, and spacious garden—they are looking for ingenious, inherently transient designs that seek new ways to navigate these familiar spaces, alter them, play with them, and guide the visitors through and around them.
    • Facade
      • Redesign the iconic Hansen House facade the physical and conceptual portal into Jerusalem Design Week to reflect this year’s theme.
    • Gardens and courtyards 
      • Small-to-medium-scale works that reinterpret the public spaces and gathering areas of Hansen House in line with the annual theme. Submitted works can be functional or conceptual, sculptural or audiovisual; let your imagination run wild!
  • Types of support 
    • Existing works: artist’s fee New works/exhibitions: support will be based on a detailed budget
    • Applicants are required to provide proof of professional experience. Architectural-scale projects will require approval from a safety engineer.
• Designer residency at Hansen House 
  • Jerusalem Design Week is proud to announce its first-ever residency program for site-specific time-based projects. The program seeks to explore design processes and actions that unfold over time, engaging in dialogue with our fast-changing day-to-day reality and responding to it in real-time. The residency program is an opportunity to create a project based on relationships formed within Hansen House and with its surroundings. The creative process that comes into being from a prolonged stay at Hansen House will become a dynamic, living, accessible platform.
  • For this year’s JDW, designers are invited to propose projects that require a prolonged stay at Hansen House and use of its facilities. The residency program will include 2-3 months of work in a dedicated space in Hansen House. The designer will stay at Hansen House from June 2024 until the opening of Jerusalem Design Week on September 19, 2024.
  • For this program, they welcome proposals for site-specific projects at any scale suitable for Hansen House. Projects must reflect the annual theme and fit one of the aforementioned categories. Selected proposals will be invited to meet with the curators before they undergo further screening. The residency program is suitable for projects that will run at Hansen House throughout the aforementioned period.

Support 

• Up to NIS 25,000 to realize the project
• Access to a workspace, equipment storage, and a digital fabrication lab (FABLAB) during the opening hours of Hansen House and within space limitations
• Advisory meetings with the JDW curatorial team
• Professional support and guidance tailored to the project’s needs
• The project will be documented and shared on various platforms
• The funding does not include accommodation and travel expenses.
• Acceptance into the program is contingent on a commitment to full participation.

For more information, visit Jerusalem Design Week.