London Design Biennale 2023 Highlights

By Eleonore Dresch on 1/6/2023

The London Design Biennale opens at Somerset House, bringing together over 40 participants worldwide under the theme: The Global Game: Remapping Collaboration.
Through installations, pavilions, digital experiences and performances, artists and designers explore collaborative practice in challenging times.
Be prepared to bake bread, converse with an AI Robot, virtually visit a garden in Korea or a Museum in Congo and much more...
Here is a selection of our favourite design experiences.

Getting lost in the Malta Pavillon

In the courtyard, the Maltese design collaborative Urban Fabric has designed this playful labyrinth of colourful fabrics which evoke ancient Maltese villages. One to get lost in.

Under Water - Automorph network, creative differences

Go Under Water with Automorph network.

Those moving creatures are designed by Creative Differences – a collaboration between scientists and designers working together on the concept of self-shaping matter.

Meditate listening to the gentle music coming from the Turkey Pavillon

Açik Yapit space puts us in a meditative state.

It convincingly explores themes of estrangement, exchanges and displacement.

Meet artist Ai-Da!

An encounter with Ai-Da is one of the highlights of the Biennale. This ultra-realistic humanoid robot could be designed for our home interiors.

She is an artist and will happily talk to you and recite poems – see her in action here.

Scarily seductive.

An Arts Centre in the Refugee Camp of Bidi Bidi

You can see a piece of the new Music and Arts Centre of Bidi Bidi Refugee Settlement, which is currently under construction in northern Uganda.

The project, led by to.org, in collaboration with the design practice Hassell and Kampala design studio LocalWorks, is on a mission to reframe the narrative around the word 'refugee'.

Utterly inspiring.

Inner Space – Music-Mind-Textile

It is worth waiting for this musical performance in the Nelson Staircase. A collaboration between the Royal College of Art, the Royal College of Music and Forster and Partners.

Sacred Geometry, Serbia Pavillon

This mysterious and atmospheric sculptural space combines spacial design and AI and is inspired by ornaments of the Middle Ages.

Virtual visit of the National Museum of the Democratic Republic of Congo

The National Museum of the Democratic Republic of Congo opened its doors in 2019. Designed by the Korean practice Junglim Architecture, it has been created to preserve national heritage and promote its values.

The virtual experience gives a glimpse of life in Kinshasa, for those who are unlikely to visit anytime soon.

The London Biennale takes place at Somerset House between 1 - 25 June.

You can book your ticket here