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Adorno Presents London Design Festivals first fully digital exhibition Virtual Design Destination with the theme The New Reality.

Hosted by the digital gallery Adorno, Virtual Design Destination will present over 100 works by artists from 14 European countries. The impressively diverse online programme will rotate work by two different designers from different parts of the world every day of the 7-day London Design Festival, 2020.

The exhibition directly responds to the way that the global health crisis in 2020 has pushed interaction between design and spectator into a digital realm. Each curator responsible for the countries involved have themed their contribution around responses to the world effected by Covid-19. While some European countries such as Norway focus on themes of solitude or isolation, other countries such as Latvia take inspiration from more outward- facing topics such as the sea. Many of the contributions focus on our various and yet shared lockdown experiences.

By working closely with specialist 3D developers and artists, Adorno hopes to revolutionise the way that we view works of design and art online, and how this augmented-reality exhibition can, in fact, offer more than a physical exhibition. If your expectation of viewing design on your screen is one of a static, 2D experience – with typical images or video material – prepare to be completely surprised.

Each of the countries involved will be presented in a fully realised digital environment, where visitors are free to move around and explore at their leisure. Visitors can also ‘meet’ the designers through a series of cleverly integrated video interviews, often filmed in the designer’s own studio.

The result is a remarkable and immersive experience: a journey through each culture and a theatrical experience of the work tethered to each. Every country creates a unique world for their online pavilion. The 14 featured countries are Iceland, Sweden, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, France, Finland, Norway and Romania.

Iceland’s contribution looks at discarded natural resources and the process of up-cycling as a way to bridge the relationship between humanity, nature and technology. Norway’s exhibition takes place inside the studio of artist Kiyoshi Yamamoto, which is transformed into a maker space shared by five Norwegian artists and makers. The exhibition looks at their work in relation to isolation and solitude.Sweden’s Mirror Mirror Off The Wall see’s surreal mirrored surfaces appearing in a serene woodland setting. The contribution questions the ultimate symbol of womanhood and normative standards of beauty. The Netherlands’ contribution The Healing Collection looks at how designers and artists are working towards healing the planet, the individual and society.

The exhibition can be viewed through any smartphone or laptop, and each individual piece is digitised as a true-to-life 3D model. Viewers can fully inspect each

The London Design Fair and London Design Biennale for 2020 have both been postponed. So this September, Adorno’s virtual design destination will be the go-to for collectible design during London Design Festival 2020. Visitors can view the full programme and book into the interactive environments and join the guided tours by the curators here: https://virtualdesigndestination.com/the-new-reality/