IDW is the annual International Design Workshop week for master students of the Faculty of Design Sciences of the University of Antwerp (architecture, interior architecture, product development, heritage studies, urbanism and spatial planning), as well as for master students of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of the AP University of Applied Sciences and Arts Antwerp.
WHIMSICALITY
After addressing the current global crises and dark times during our previous IDW editions (STORM in 2023 and ALIENATION in 2024), IDW 2025 aims at shedding a positive and bright light on the future through WHIMSICALITY. Whimsicality is about infusing joy, wonder, and creativity, it’s about thinking outside the box and embracing the unexpected. Whimsicality in art and design can act as a coping mechanism, providing moments of lightheartedness and joy amidst difficult circumstances. So let’s use our joyful imagination, our delightful creativity, our playful thinking, and our unconventional ideas to explore future enchanting possibilities. Let’s design our future in a whimsical way. You ready?
“Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living, it’s a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope.”—Dr. Seuss
CRITICAL DESIGN ATTITUDE
The IDW week aims to explore WHIMSICALITY using the power of the critical design attitude. Instead of the traditional affirmative design approach (problem-solving and solution-focused), the aim of the IDW week is to focus on ‘problem-finding’. This critical design attitude leads to a deeper understanding of all factors that influence a design and encourages to reflect on the impact of a solution or intervention. It triggers the exploration of alternative and out-of-the-box scenarios thus increase the likelihood of more (socially) sustainable and desirable futures becoming reality [1].
The workshop week is open to radical pedagogical experiences, which open the eyes, broaden thinking and foster new encounters. It stimulates international and interdisciplinary exchange and offers an informal platform for discussing design education and its agency.