What is design today? A table, a train, a cobot? "A community", replied the main curator of the 2019 Biennale.

« On the edge of the year 2020, design is more about systems than stuff. It is about producing environments and experiences. It is about creating connections to the built world, but especially to other people. Increasingly, people's individual health and well-being is linked to the greater community they are a part of - and design can play a significant role in creating that community.

A key focus of contemporary design is how to live in multi-generational, multi-cultural, multi-attitudinal societies. Not just based on age, race or gender, but based on speed, on interests, on points of view. How can design express this multi-layered society? How can it facilitate through creating new connections, spaces and things?

The key objective of the 11^th Biennale will be uncovering the objects, expressions, systems and points of view that are changing our world - and finding ways to allow them to coexist and collaborate.

ME - YOU - NOUS is about radical collaboration in an age of pervasive individualism.

Looking beyond ourselves to understand the other. Looking outside the tech or business bubble to speak to real people and their needs, desires and dreams. Designing for the future means collaborating with industry, nature, technology, people and the planet to create systems and products that truly serve a purpose.

Designing for the future means designing inclusion - from a film to a wheelchair to a factory - so that the world looks more like everyone, and less like no-one.

Designing common ground means that, in the 11^th hour of social shifts, technical disruptions and environmental change, it's never too late to join the discussion. There will be a seat at the table for everyone: Me, You, Nous. »



Lisa White, Principal curator of Biennale Internationale Design Saint-Étienne 2019