Jan Boelen is co-founder and artistic director of European Design Parliament (2018–21).
The European Design Parliament (EDP) is a transnational cooperation project that seeks to lead the change in design in the 21st century. Today, design is in crisis, and needs to change and adapt to contemporary times. Europe, the birthplace of design, should lead the discipline’s transformation. With this goal, the EDP sets in motion a large-scale collaboration uniting over 80 different agents in Europe, throughout the course of 3.5 years.
In a coordinated effort from 2018 to 2021, they will learn from each other, build and reinforce skills, grow stronger and spread knowledge. Together, they will adapt to 21st century economy and embrace changes in the labour market. As the lead institutional partner, Z33 House for Contemporary Art will be one of the pillars upon which the European Design Parliament (EDP) stands. Z33 will lead a local case study investigating the nature of post-industrial design in their particular context, in collaboration with research associates — young design minds coming from peripheral areas of Europe — to generate new insights that will inform the outcomes of the EDP project.