Among the most innovative exhibition concepts we saw at DMY 2011 was that from the Holland based Portuguese design platform Made out Portugal.
They showed their works in the back of a truck.
Or at least they did at the beginning - the combination of location and weather meaning that they did eventually have move indoors.
But that's not to distract from the concept itself.
Beloved by governments and state institutions looking to increase "participation", or indeed health service providers trying to encourage us to take our health a little more seriously, mobile exhibitions aren't new
However transferred to the field of product design, or art, in does seem a little subversive. Playing as it does with notions of temporariness and fleetingness.
Plus in theory they could also stop at every motorway service station on the way back to Eindhoven and present their work
To find out more about the mobile concept and the current state of Made out Portugal we spoke to one of the platform's founding members Bruno Carvalho
(smow)blog: The obvious first question, why the decision for an exhibition in the back of a lorry?
Bruno Carvalho: Firstly we are all from Portugal, but live elsewhere and so are we are all in a way "design nomads". And then with the rented van it is so that we don't necessarily need to have an exhibition or a gallery space to show our works; we have our own temporary, mobile gallery. We can park it anywhere and exhibit. Which is something I like because I think design should be for everybody, and so we can stop in a housing estate and then reach people who we otherwise would not reach because they don't come to such shows. And so it is an alternative form of communication, also because there are so many design shows now. Sometimes it is as if there are more design weeks than actual weeks in a year.
(smow)blog: In that sense, why the decision to bring the truck to DMY
Bruno Carvalho: Principally because of Berlin, it's just an amazing city. And so its like "Lets go to DMY - it's in Berlin!!" But also DMY is a nice relaxed festival, with more workshops and less commercial pressure. Also there is a lot of communication between the designers, which is good and positive.
(smow)blog: We first met at Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven, which was also Made out Portugal's first exhibition. How have things developed since then?
Bruno Carvalho: The biggest thing at the moment is an internal discussion over the future direction we should take. Some people want to have a more structured organisation behind it, but I am more of the opinion that it should all remain simple. For me Made out Portugal is not a brand, its just a platform where we all help each other without ties. And so the next step is to decide on our future direction
(smow)blog: And are still you looking for more designers to join you?
Bruno Carvalho: Yes. We're always looking for new designers. Any Portuguese designer working in Europe, but not Portugal, is welcome to join us. But also Portugal is in quite a bad way economically at the moment, most of us here are working with and in very high-class professional studios, we're gathering a lot of experience and we want to use that to help design in Portugal. And so at Experimenta we will be inviting some Portuguese based designers to join us.
(smow)blog: Which leads us nicely to the final question, where can we expect the Made out Portugal truck to turn up next?
Bruno Carvalho: We're still planning, but we will try to go to London Design Festival and also Experimanta in Lisbon. But we can anywhere, even when we're not accepted because we can just pull up outside the venue and exhibit!!
More information on Made out Portugal can be found at www.madeoutportugal.com
