from 24-30 october 2009, the biennial icograda world design congress in association with the first beijing design week will be held in beijing, china. 100 carefully selected speakers and thousands of delegates from around the globe will gather in a cross-disciplinary event, offering five days of exchange and dialogue among the international design community.



a series of conferences, exhibitions, concerts, performances and fringe activities will be held from 24- 30 oct and beyond, based on the theme 'xin' which literally signifies a primitive means of communication but has come to encompass many more dimensions today. speakers including jan van toorn, sol sender, patrick whitney, pan gongkai, kohei sugiura, david kester, ruedi baur, xu bing, troika, N55, joachim sauter (art+com), ric grefé (AIGA), carsten nicolai (aka alva noto), brian collins, michael rock (2x4), david carson, david small, qiu zhenzhong, and dunne & raby will be on stage to address delegates from around the world. see full list of speakers


cookies featuring the obama 'O' logo designed by sol sender



'cloud' installation by troika



by david carson



by jan van toorn


central academy of fine arts, beijing

the key events during the week include the grand opening ceremony at the national centre for the performing arts, and the international design conference and icograda education network (IEN) conference at china central academy of fine arts. exhibitions opening throughout the week include 'lifescope: design design! live life!' at the beijing world art museum, 'design as a second productive force' at the national art museum of china, the 2009 adobe design achievement award (ADAA) exhibition (following its award-giving ceremony on the 26 oct) at china central academy of fine arts (cafa) library, and 'chinese graphic design in the 20th century: a documentary', 'beijing typography 2009' and '365: AIGA annual design competitions show' will be shown a at CAFA art museum together with several others.


national center for performing arts, beijing

other activities and events taking place in the week are: 'beijing high-end design projects and policies release' - announcing beijing’s city-level design projects in the next decade, 'beijing design tour' - an insider’s trip to the beijing dynamic design scene, launch of 'beijing workstation for international designers' - a service platform for international designers by beijing creative centre, 'xishi' - an opera based on the story of a beautiful chinese woman, 'unitxt' - live audio-visual art performance by the acclaimed visual artist/electronic musician alva noto and a variety of selected excursions in and around beijing.


national center for performing arts by night

the event is co-organised by china central academy of fine arts (CAFA), china national centre for the performing arts (NCPA), beijing industrial design centre (BIDC) and beijing gehua cultural development group.


inside the national center for performing arts

icograda (international council of graphic design associations) is the world body for professional communication design. founded in 1963, it is a voluntary assembly of organisations concerned with graphic design, visual communication, design management, promotion, education, research and journalism. icograda promotes the vital role of communication design in society and commerce, and unifies the voices of graphic designers and visual communicators worldwide.


inside the national center for performing arts

the 1st beijing design week will be running parallel to the icograda world design congress. and as part of the legacy of the congress, the BDW will be a long term programme of beijing city aimed at promoting the role of design in china.

online registration is available for xin: icograda world design congress beijing 2009. professional, academic, student and member rates are available for qualifying delegates.

please visit www.beijing2009.org/reg.htm for further details.