Press

• The predominantly virtual 10^th edition of Munich Creative Business Week presented by the cultural and creative sectors was both a beacon and a role model during the COVID-19 pandemic

• More than 120 digital and hybrid workshops, conferences, symposiums, webinars, exhibitions, and streaming opportunities

Munich, Germany, March 18, 2021 | This year saw the tenth anniversary of the annually held Munich Creative Business Week (MCBW), the largest event of its kind in Germany. Almost all the events took place digitally or in a hybrid manner. Over the course of nine days, the virtual design week broke the constraints of geography and time with its newly developed digital “space” and established entirely new formats. MCBW proved to be an exemplary beacon during the COVID-19 pandemic, emphasizing once again the relevance and radiance of the creative and cultural sectors.

Matthias Horx: Designers as agents of future design

In line with the theme of this year’s MCBW, Shaping futures by Design, during the digital MCBW reception broadcast from BMW Welt, futurologist and founder of Zukunftsinstitut Matthias Horx discussed the retrograde view on the future in the form of a “regnosis.” He said: “It can be helpful if we jump into tomorrow mentally and ask ourselves retrospectively how we got there. The regnosis enables us to enter into a productive relationship with the future. In this scenario, designers assume the important role of agents by escorting society and the industrial sector on their journeys.”

10 years of MCBW: a successful transformation process

While MCBW typically takes place within Munich’s borders and in the MCBW partner region of Landshut, for its tenth anniversary this year it founded a virtual platform that will be continued, at least in part, going forward. “Personal encounters and networking locally are the essence of MCBW and our industry, however, the connection between the analog and the digital has enriched our lives and will continue to do so in the future. For example, it allows us to extend our community at the national and international levels and to create a new form of connectivity. In addition, by combining digital and analog we can develop new formats with even greater added value,” says Lisa Braun, Director of MCBW.

New formats: digital and analog connected

An example of a successful new format was the DESIGNWALK which was well-received and earned a great deal of positive feedback. The tour led visitors to several analog stations throughout Munich’s Kunstareal area including the DIS CONNECTED video installation and the MCBW POP UP exhibition container. The QR code at each station provided digital background information including interviews. Visitors were able to embark on this urban tour at any time during the nine days without having to register – all they needed was a smartphone. Jan Kuck’s interactive light installation and the video performances by Miro Craemer at Westpark also made impressive examples of the connection between the analog and the digital. At timematters.art fans of art, families, and walkers had the opportunity to send in their preferred responses to the question “What would you change?” and have their entries projected onto the water screen on site. However, the diverse digital conferences, workshops, and live streams on the MCBW website recorded the lion’s share of visitors.[1]

MCBW’s value for society and the economy

Hubert Aiwanger, Bavarian State Minister of Economic Affairs, Regional Development and Energy, emphasized: “MCBW is an essential silver lining for the cultural and creative sectors. The overwhelming acceptance of the many digital formats makes me optimistic for the future. In particular, the large bandwidth of topics shows how important the industry is to the mastering of the wide array of challenges currently being faced. I am very happy the Ministry of Economic Affairs supports this industry event every year!” At 20.3 bn euros in gross value added, the share of the creative and cultural sectors in the value creation of the state of Bavaria amounted to 3.6 percent making it the sector with the third highest contribution among those referenced after the automotive sector with 7.9 percent and the healthcare sector with 7.7 percent.[2]

About MCBW

MCBW is organized by bayern design GmbH and is sponsored by the Bavarian State Ministry for Economic Affairs, Regional Development and Energy, and the City of Munich. As partners, BMW Group, Steelcase, and Ströer provide substantial support to the event.

[1] Figures on participants will be available in late March and can be requested at pressoffice @ mcbw.de

[2]Report of the Cultural and Creative Sectors

• 10 years of MCBW: After its COVID-19 driven transformation, the nine-day design event will eliminate spatial limits for everyone
• Focus on Shaping futures by Design: How can design help influence the future?

Munich, Germany, March 5, 2021 | Munich Creative Business Week (MCBW), the largest annual design event of its kind in Germany, will take place as scheduled from March 6 to 14 following a digital transformation process. Interested parties can participate from wherever they are regardless of any lockdown-related restrictions. Focus of this ten-year anniversary edition of MCBW will be on Shaping futures by Design because currently we all have one priority: our future.

Nine days filled with inspiration, impulsion, and networking

After being affected severely by the first lockdown in March of last year, MCBW has been repositioned and now, ten years after its inception, the event is being presented in an entirely new manner: Design lovers and experts can look forward to more than 100 digital and hybrid design-related events including workshops, conferences, symposiums, webinars, exhibitions, and streaming opportunities. Participants will need only a smartphone and a good Internet connection. Irrespective of their location and of any applicable restrictions due to the lockdown, during MCBW participants can enjoy a ray of hope in the cultural and creative sector – nine days filled with inspiration, impulsion, and networking. MCBW is organized by bayern design, Bavaria’s center for design competence.

Shaping futures by Design

Rather than focusing on the past, the motto of the tenth edition of MCBW, Shaping futures by Design, emphasizes ways design can influence the future. Highlights of the event include the following digital and hybrid formats, some of which have been newly developed for this anniversary edition:

DIS CONNECTED video installation

On all nine days, from 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. a video installation created exclusively for MCBW in line with the event’s focus on shaping the future will be projected onto the façade of the Hochschule für Fernsehen und Film (HFF) building (corner of Gabelsbergerstraße and Barer Straße). The goal of DIS CONNECTED is to sensitize people to a new way of living that has been accelerated by the pandemic.

Interactive light installation TIME MATTERS at Westpark

Furthermore, the interactive open-air light installation TIME MATTERS will take place at Westpark at the Westsee, daily from 6.30 p.m. on. In the middle of the Westsee screens will float above the water for the video dance performance of Miro Craemer and for texts of the light designer and artist Jan Kuck who already lit up the Siegestor and the Isar during last year’s MCBW. Art lovers, families, strollers are invited to admire, to dance and to send their heart’s desire on timematters.art – the responses will then be projected to the water screen.

DESIGNWALK

An entirely new format developed this year is the MCBW DESIGNWALK. Visitors participating in this curated urban walk can stop in at eleven stations throughout Munich’s Kunstareal district independently at any time between March 6 and 14 and enjoy the accompanying audio interviews and exhibits showcased by local institutions, companies, and shops. The DESIGNWALK will connect a number of design highlights such as the video installation, a small exhibition hosted by oursuperstore in an analog shop window at HFF, and a collection of Vienna-related posters presented by designaustria of Vienna and 24-7.museum of Munich in the exhibition container MCBW POP UP.

START UP

Presented by bayern design from March 6 to 14, MCBW START UP – Design for Change is a digital exhibition showcasing inspiring sustainable and trendsetting solutions and design approaches originating in Bavaria. Focus will be on ecologically and socially responsible products and on digital and technological applications. Contributors include Ambiletics, CAALA, ECOFARIO, freisicht, Hyperganic Technologies, kommod, MARI&ANNE, nojin, OUTENTIC, Puray, Qwello, Sause, tacterion, Tjiko, and urbandoo.

The MCBW program outlining close to 120 events is available here.

“We are pleased to be able to invigorate the cultural and creative sectors with more than 100 digital design highlights in this still difficult time and to present our design week,” says Lisa Braun, Director of MCBW. “Our goal is to emphasize the value of design in relation to ways in which we want to work, communicate, and live in the future, especially under these trying circumstances. We appreciate our MCBW program partners for accompanying us on this journey and for contributing a host of their own inspiring ingenuity.”

Link to image and video material: Link

• Munich-based animation studios MOTOMOTO & Uber Eck have developed a spectacular video installation to debut at MCBW

• Projected onto the façade of HFF, the installation invites viewers to reflect on new forms of living in society

  Munich, Germany, March 5, 2021 | During Munich Creative Business Week (MCBW) a video installation will be projected onto the façade of Hochschule für Fernsehen und Film (HFF) (corner of Gabelsbergerstraße and Barer Straße) daily from 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. from March 6 through 14. The installation, titled DIS CONNECTED and commissioned by bayern design GmbH, organizer of MCBW, was designed to sensitize people to a new way of living which has been accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic: Digitization has impacted the social behavior we have “acquired,” we are communicating in a variety of different ways, the term space has taken on new meaning, and we are experiencing anonymity in a different way. The effect can be to bring people together and to distance them at the same time. The video shows floating idealized creatures dressed in black and white. They embody both contrast and balance in an artificially created space.

  “We deliberately chose to make people aware of and able to challenge a new form of living together. The way we thought we would live, learn, communicate, and work tomorrow is being upended. Design approaches such as this video installation allow us to view developments in society from a meta level and to unlock new perspectives. MCBW offers the required space,” says Lisa Braun, Director of MCBW.

  “Our lives are becoming increasingly virtual and the COVID-19 pandemic is contributing enormously to accelerating the digitization of the world,” says Bastian Bormke, co-founder of MOTOMOTO. Niklaus Hofer, co-founder of Uber Eck, adds: “The questions are: How are we experiencing this world in which we are growing physically distant from relatives, colleagues, and other people around us, and what are we making of this experience?”

  Link to the image and video material: Link

• One decade of MCBW: 10^th edition to take place March 6 through 14
• Transformation has modified MCBW presentation: digital, hybrid, and analog
• Focus is on design as a tool for creating the future
• Highlight: DIS CONNECTED video installation at HFF

Munich, Germany,  January 14, 2021 | This year, MCBW will commemorate its tenth anniversary. The program for the upcoming edition, which will focus on the future with the slogan Shaping futures by Design and will take place from March 6 to 14, 2021, will be published today. After suffering severe repercussions due to the first lockdown in March of 2020, MCBW has been repositioned and will be presented using an entirely new approach: Fans can look forward to a blend of digital, hybrid, and analog events including broad-based workshops, conferences, symposiums, webinars, virtual exhibitions, and streams such as the Brand Design Master Class and the FORWARD FESTIVAL. A video installation developed exclusively for MCBW seizes on this year’s focal theme, Shaping futures by Design, in a spectacular manner and will be projected onto the facade of the Hochschule für Film und Fernsehen (HFF) building in the evenings over the course of nine days.

Desperately seeking a future: Shaping futures by Design

MCBW is organized by bayern design, the Bavarian center for design competence. The slogan, Shaping futures by Design, has been chosen deliberately because at present the world is zeroing in on one topic alone: our future. The COVID-19 crisis has unearthed a number of painful issues and has intensified others – in many cases design is both the solution and the great hope. A cornucopia of approximately 100 digital, hybrid, and analog events that will engender new, multi-faceted impulses awaits design experts and aficionados at this year’s MCBW. Lisa Braun, Director of MCBW, says: “We also underwent a transformation process during the pandemic and, not least because of our ten-year anniversary, intensely explored ways to reposition ourselves. We want to set a good example and we want to show that new formats including virtual exhibitions, live streaming, and design walks can forge new paths. I look forward to a whole new MCBW with many exciting opportunities and experiences, especially on the occasion of our jubilee.” 

A range of new and known events

Again in 2021, MCBW will pivot around the MCBW FORUM – in any case virtually and also, to the extent possible, on site at the HFF. Depending on official regulations, a number of events will take place at the HFF in a digital, hybrid, or analog form including oursuperstore, the FORWARD FESTIVAL, the MCBW START UP Symposium, MCBW Talents, DESIGN KIDS, and MCBW DESIGNKINO. The team at the Live Streaming Studio at the MCBW FORUM will ensure events can be streamed should another lockdown be instituted. An entirely new format developed this year is the MCBW DESIGNWALK. Visitors participating in this curated urban walk can stop in at approximately ten stations throughout Munich’s Kunstareal district independently at any time and can enjoy the accompanying audio interviews and discussions of exhibits showcased by local institutions, companies, and shops. We are pleased to announce that Landshut will again be the MCBW Partner Region and will present design events from Lower Bavaria.

The highlight of MCBW 2021: the DIS CONNECTED video installation

The DIS CONNECTED video installation seizes on this year’s focal theme, Shaping futures by Design, in a spectacular manner and will be a highlight of MCBW 2021. Munich-based animation studios MOTOMOTO & UberEck developed the video exclusively for MCBW in line with the event’s focus on shaping the future. The goal of the video installation is to sensitize people to a new way of living that has been accelerated by the pandemic: Digitization has impacted the social behavior we have “acquired,” we are communicating in a variety of different ways, the term space has taken on a new meaning, and we are experiencing anonymity in a different way. The effect can be to bring people together and to distance them at the same time. The video shows floating idealized creatures dressed in black and white. They embody both the contrast and the balance in an artificially created space. The video installation will be projected onto the façade of the HFF building (corner of Gabelsbergerstraße and Barer Straße) throughout MCBW from 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.

About MCBW

MCBW is organized by bayern design GmbH and is sponsored by the Bavarian State Ministry for Economic Affairs, Regional Development and Energy, and the City of Munich. As partners, BMW Group, Steelcase, and Ströer provide substantial support to the event.

+++ Shaping Futures by Design – the 10^th edition of MCBW shifts its focus

+++ designaustria is a partner promoting exchanges between Austria and Bavaria

+++ Program partners can register now to contribute to the comprehensive program

+++ Landshut in Lower Bavaria remains the exclusive regional partner of MCBW 2021

Munich, July 16, 2020 | In its tenth year, Munich Creative Business Week (MCBW) is zeroing in on the future: Shaping futures by Design is the new slogan of the largest design event in Germany. The slogan is reflected in the key visual created for the event, epitomizing the encounter of evolution and future, nature and technology. This relationship is worthy of much attention because it has the potential for innovation and at the same time, it is extremely vulnerable. Thus, mankind has a special responsibility to ensure the success of this relationship.

“How will we want to live tomorrow? When it comes to answering this question, designers across disciplines play an important role as they propose ideas, develop processes and structures and/or shape living environments and relationships. A future worth living is created in environments in which mindsets and design are attentive, responsible, and sustainable. The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated the importance of being agile and flexible in today’s world and using our gift for innovation to develop new ‘futures.’ This is one of the reasons why the slogan of MCBW 2021 is Shaping futures by Design,” says Dr. Silke Claus, Managing Director of the organizer, bayern design. Focus will be on the future – Future of Health, Future of Security, Future of Work, Future of Education, Future of Communication, and Future of Cities. These themes will set the course for the content of the program.

designaustria

Established in 1927, designaustria is the third oldest design organization in Europe. Its members, currently more than 1400 active in diverse fields, see design as the main driver of innovation and thus a key factor in society’s development and economic success. As MCBW 2021’s cooperation partner, designaustria plans to make the close ties between Bavaria and Austria more visible and to intensify and cultivate these ties with the goal of expanding the excellent neighborly relationship.

Register now to become a program partner

MCBW is an initiator, a platform, and a multiplier. The event fosters visibility for companies, agencies, and designers and connections among them, professionals, and the public. MCBW also showcases ways to use creativity and the power of innovation to transform current challenges into shared opportunities. Companies, agencies, and designers opting to become program partners have the opportunity to complement MCBW 2021 with their own events, exhibitions, and campaigns and to become part of this design week. Additions to the program can be developed based on the slogan Shaping futures by Design. Interested partners are invited to register their events at www.mcbw.de/en now.

Partner Region of Landshut

The Landshut region in Lower Bavaria already has registered to participate. It will continue its partnership with MCBW which began favorably in 2020, and is confident that all the events scheduled for the 2021 edition will take place after so many plans had to be cancelled in 2020 due to the pandemic.

To be better prepared for situations such as the coronavirus crisis, MCBW’s organizers will strengthen their focus on combining analog and digital formats. The MCBW website will become the main platform for communicating details of the program and the planned MCBW Creative Book will provide more in-depth information.

About MCBW

MCBW is organized by bayern design GmbH and sponsored by the Bavarian State Ministry for Economic Affairs, Regional Development and Energy, and the City of Munich. As partners, BMW Group, Steelcase, and Ströer provide substantial support for the event.

Review: the design industry showcases sustainable innovation

+++ MCBW keeps its status as key design event despite coronavirus crisis

+++ Sustain by Design – MCBW 2020 centered on sustainability

+++ Save the date: MCBW 2021 from March 6 to 14

 

Munich, April 1, 2020 | Organized by bayern design, the 9^th edition of Munich Creative Business Week (MCBW) which took place from March 7 to 13, 2020 strengthened its status as Germany’s key design event despite the coronavirus crisis. Although some items on the agenda had to be cancelled and the entire event was cut short because of the increasingly critical situation around the world, numerous remarkable events went ahead as scheduled. Following the motto of this year’s MCBW, Sustain by Design, several companies and organizations introduced their innovative concepts, demonstrating the great strides that have made in the field of sustainable design.

Design increases sustainable value

Good design drives sustainability. Designers work at the interface between people and society and the interface between the economy and the environment. Designers’ skills and craftsmanship enable them to combine form and function and to develop strategies and systems for solutions for a sustainable future. Many events and workshops hosted at MCBW 2020 dealt with ways of working, living, communicating, dressing, and traveling in the future. In cooperation with other disciplines and along with the research and science sectors, design develops the future – a future which must be designed. Divided into six themes – the future of digitization, innovation, communication, cities, fashion, and work – MCBW illustrated in an inspiring manner what design can do, is doing, and will do in these fields.

Sustainability-themed events during MCBW included the clothing swap campaign organized by Green City, the Socio City Conference, and the Schnitzer& sponsored symposium and exhibition titled ÜBERDACHT social.design.build.

Dr. Silke Claus, Managing Director of bayern design GmbH, the organizer of MCBW, says: “A future without sustainability is inconceivable. The interplay of the design industry and the corporate sector facilitates the advancement of solutions to problems and the development of sustainable models for tomorrow. The events at MCBW this year demonstrated ways in which approaches to sustainable design can impact our society.”

Other MCBW highlights

Highlights of MCBW 2020 included the awards ceremony for Münchner Modepreis presented by the City of Munich, the DMI Boston Symposium, and the Interior Congress organized by Münchner Stoff Frühling. Also a sight to see: unique light installations created by celebrity concept artist Jan Kuck. Radiating throughout Munich during MCBW, these installations immersed the Victory Gate and also turned the Isar into the Burning River with a fire-red glow – a warning light. The event attracted numerous spectators and continued until their scheduled end.

Regional Partner: Landshut in Lower Bavaria

This year MCBW’s Regional Partner, the Lower Bavarian region of Landshut, showcased its powers of innovation and its affinity with design at several events concerning architecture, communication, and crafts. One of the main features was Regional Partner Day held at MCBW FORUM. The second report on the cultural and creative industries in Bavaria compiled by bayernkreativ, the center of Bavaria’s cultural and creative sectors, was presented at MCBW FORUM as well. Landshut also will be the Regional Partner of MCBW 2021.

MCBW FORUM

MCBW FORUM, the central point of contact during the design week, again took place at the premises of HFF Munich. Visitors had the opportunity to acquaint themselves with MCBW’s program and to participate in compelling events including MUCBOOK Creative Night, MCBW DESIGNKINO, the opening of the oursuperstore design shop, and Recruiting Day.

The next MCBW will take place from March 6 to 14, 2021.