Beirut gets ready to become once again the international stage for design with the upcoming sixth edition of Beirut Design Week. The fair by MENA Design Research Center will be on from May 19-26, with a brand new challenging theme that will be addressed by its participants: “Is Design a Need?”. The very rich program of the seven-day festival will include many talks, workshops, exhibitions all over the city, with 150 happenings scattered along each district. Beirut's galleries, boutiques, shops and even institutions will join the event, proving one of the leading commitments of Beirut Design Week: promoting Lebanon's design.

Among the unmissable events, Speculative Needs, the prototype exhibit that will be investigating our future physical interaction needs as human beings. Today, technology plays a very useful role in our daily life, yet it can't reflect the complexity of our being. The exhibition will try to respond to such issues by displaying the projects by the design departments of the leading universities of the city. Another important event will be Critical Mass: Women in Graphic Design, aimed at celebrating the crucial role played by women over the last 30 years in building Lebanon's visual culture. The artsy side of five of such designers will be exhibited at its finest, by displaying and selling their most vivid creations, such as posters, to present the “pop” side of the country. Given such premises, the sixth edition of Beirut Design Week is certainly going to be a massive cultural festival that will both entertain and educate its public.

INFO: beirutdesignweek.org

PHOTO COURTESY: Beirut Design Week