DEAF serves as a public forum and meeting place for young creative talent as well as established professionals, scientists and business stakeholders whose work focuses on our contemporary technological culture.
Originally started by V2_ Institute for the Unstable Media in the mid 1980s; DEAF continues as an independent entity since 2012.
„At DEAF, we look at current social and cultural urgencies with a fresh, critical view. Art, design, fashion, music, science and technology are combined effortlessly, crossing paths in playful, visionary and critical projects.“
DEAF’s exhibition, project presentations, symposium and performances show what artists and designers are creating in their labs and how their discoveries can contribute to the development and design of technology and society at large.
The theme of DEAF 2014 is: The Progress Trap
www.deaf.nl
THE PROGRESS TRAP
The theme of DEAF2014 is The Progress Trap. Nowadays progress is called innovation, but seems to have shifted away from the idea of improvement. The Progress Trap is a pitfall that arises when innovation becomes a goal in itself. Do innovations lead to progress, or do they only result in new technologies? Does our fixation on innovation stand in the way of other matters such as more happiness for a larger number of people, a more stable climate or a higher degree of civilization? Or even worse, is the fixation on innovation maybe even the cause of new and bigger problems in the long term and are we innovating ourselves into even more trouble? The programme includes an exhibition, keynotes, seminars, workshops, performances, a closing night and lots more. Het Nieuwe Instituut is the main location and together with V2_ the main partner of DEAF2014.