BAD Award Matchmaking Day

Last Friday the matchmaking event for the 2022 BAD awards took place: an exciting day! The event was hosted by MU Hybrid Art House in the impressive Evoluon building. 16 groups of artists and designers pitched their proposals for a project, hoping to find the right research group to collaborate with. Participants traveled from all over the country to attend the event, some crossing borders, arriving from the UK or Germany, or being present digitally, calling in from Taiwan, China or Sweden. We listened to some really inventive and exciting ideas connecting art and design with technology and science. The proposals surely offered some food for thought, using speculative design to create possible futures for humanity and the earth. We were glad to see counter-aesthetics and new ways to visualize or think about topics ranging from symbiotic and parasitic relationships to sense-making, to strategies of co-living in the environment. 

After the plans were pitched, the matchmaking would begin. Romantic as it sounds, this was organized in a speed-date like setup, where all artists could reach out to their research groups of interest. Ideas were elaborated and collaborations envisioned. At the end of the event all participants, both artists and researchers, handed in their preferences so the matches could be formed. 

We are really looking forward to hearing more about these projects and we’re eager to see how they will get realized in the future. The matches have been made and the teams will write a joint proposal in the near future, which will be submitted no later than 17 May. Subsequently, the jury meeting and the festive announcement of the 3 winners will take place in MU on 1 June. In the meantime we wish everyone the best of luck. We’ll keep you posted!