The Barcelona Design Week 2017 is over, but you can visit the exhibition ‘Krea. Different views in creative processes’ until August 31st and also participate in workshops until July 13th!

In the sphere of social responsibility, it is usual for companies and institutions to consider the labour integration of people with different abilities or problems. They are normally tasks adapted to their capacities, and the work has an integrating function which generates a clear return for the worker, the company and society, although often a doubt also remains about to what extent these tasks offer a real creative stimulus and challenge for the person undertaking them. The exhibition shows a very specific aspect of integration; it aims to focus on and explore the contribution of different views in creative processes. Disability or marginalization are factors which often favour the development of special skills, which are not usual in people not affected.

In relation to creativity there are various myths which corroborate the interest in what is different: The idea of the genius as a brilliant person with a specific skill but very limited in certain other aspects of life, or that creativity implies an original and different viewpoint. Disability and marginalization do not cancel out the creative capacity, but rather in many cases they intensify it in aspects related to the limitations characteristic of each personal situation.

The exhibition ‘Krea. Different views in creative processes’ explores the differential value of creativity from groups at risk of social exclusion, arising from an illness or from a specific personal situation. It is not a question of generosity or charity, but rather a genuine interest in the value provided by creativity from unique life situations and experiences. “Art brut” is one of the most well-known and disseminated expressions of this type of creativity, but we are also interested in looking beyond that to seek how this creativity is applied and developed in a wide variety of projects.

Eleven cases will be presented, belonging to very different situations and groups; creative processes which incorporate people with a physical or mental disability, homeless people, people who have come from other countries and have encountered precariousness and marginalization or people who have experienced various situations of exploitation.

https://barcelonadesignweek.com/en/programme/220/