Designers in Residence / International Women’s Day

We need to celebrate role models, and this year, we have done just that, as part of our Designers in Residence programme, an all-female line up who reflected over a year on the theme of ‘Dwelling’. Over the course of the year Ella, Hester, Guilemette, Eva and Helga worked with the museum to develop their project and last November, we exhibited the outcome of their residency. Each in their own way addressing fundamental topics connected to the central theme, from addressing how we live together and care for our environment, reflecting on how we construct and reconstruct our identity when we live on the move, how we can try to escape the dictature of time and live in tune with our circadian cycles or bring home how AI is invading our lives and manipulating our everyday. We had some wonderful moments together, I loved seeing the queues of visitors wanting to visit Uchronia (you will have to come to the museum fast if you want to see and experience it!), to a memorable performance by a Theresa May impersonator delivering an AI-manipulated Brexit speech, to seeing the first ever museum interpretation in twi (Ghanaian dialect) or a little orchard growing in and around the museum.

I am incredibly proud of our group of designers in residence. As this residency is drawing to a close, and we are in the process of selecting the new cohort of residents, I wanted to take the time to celebrate these wonderful women, on International Women’s Day. The Designers in Residence programme is for me, one of the most meaningful programmes at the museum, one where we show the agency of designers, when we help launch new careers and practices, in tune with preoccupations of today.

— Alice Black, Co-Director, the Design Museum.