A Graduation Show Restored
The Lost Graduation Show is part of the Supersalone event, 5–10 September 2021, produced by Salone del Mobile at the Rho-Fieramilano fairgrounds. Graphic design by Studio Folder.
One of the pandemic’s more low-level impacts has been the denial of normality: faced with a global health crisis, business-as-usual had to give way. Small things that would previously have been taken for granted, were suddenly impossible.
It is not headline grabbing, but in the design world this was made manifest in the cancellation of graduation shows. Design students finished their studies, but were denied the opportunity to publicly exhibit their work and research – an opportunity that can facilitate early contacts with curators, industry and media, as well as an opportunity to celebrate the considerable achievement of completing a degree.
Given this, we are delighted to share news of The Lost Graduation Show – Class of 2020/21, an exhibition announced for Milan’s 2021 Salone del Mobile that is attempting to make up for lost time. Curated by Anniina Koivu, the exhibition will aim to provide a platform for young designers from around the world to share their graduation work publicly.
“The Salone del Mobile has always been a moment of acceleration,” says Koivu. “A place where design companies reveal their latest products, and a time in which the discussion around design really moves forward. For many, the visit to the annual Salone is an exhilarating dose of energy and new ideas. Now, after the interruption of the last 18 months, we are all longing to pick up the discussion, rethink where design should be heading, and reassess just what the most pressing design topics are.”
The Lost Graduation Show will be exhibited as part of Supersalone, an event organised by the Salone del Mobile from 5-10 September 2021 at the Rho-Fieramilano fairgrounds. The event will be open to graduates from around the world, working in any design discipline. The show aims, its organisers explain, to “provide a comprehensive overview of the most pressing topics and questions in contemporary design – those questions that the new generation is facing, working on and proposing to solve.”
“The Supersalone will pull us out of the stand-by mode in which we have all been languishing,” says Koivu. “And The Lost Graduation Show will provide a unique occasion for listening to the questions being asked by the new generation of designers, as well as the answers they are proposing. The beauty of the show is that we will see how the topics that matter to young designers are surprisingly similar, all around the world. Put together on a global stage, it’s a chance for a reawakening.”
An open call for participants has been sent out to 282 international design schools from 59 countries, which have been invited to submit three to ten graduation works by 18 June.
Participants will be announced by 5 July. Anybody who hasn’t received the open call, or who would like to know more, can write to info@thelostgraduationshow.com.
After a year in which normality has been denied, The Lost Graduation Show is a welcome restoration – for the class of 2020-21, it promises to be a long overdue moment in the sun.
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