Internal Call for Product Submissions for the RogExpo 2025 Exhibition: Boundaries and Frictions

Starting points:

● New materials: How can biodegradable materials redefine the aesthetics of design while addressing environmental challenges?

● The boundary as a concept: Clothing and objects that physically or symbolically communicate the relationship to borders, such as protection, exposure, or permeability.

● Inclusivity in design: How can designers respond to a world where cultural identities are increasingly hybrid and fluid?

● Overcoming gender binarism: Designing clothing or objects that erase rigid gender categories and promote inclusivity.

● Ethics in design: How can we ensure that results created with artificial intelligence align with human values and cultural sensitivities?

● Post-conflict design: How can design become a tool for expressing communities affected by political conflicts and help make their stories visible and heard?

● Design against inequality: How can design contribute to reducing social inequalities? How does studying the borders of wealth and poverty affect our design practices, and what does it mean to create for different social classes?

● Design for coexistence: How can we broaden our view of the world and incorporate the rights of other beings inhabiting this planet into design practices?

With the exhibition, we aim to:

● Present products and prototypes created in the production labs of the Rog Center in 2024–2025, developed/made by studio users, participants in the Young Rog program, independent laboratory users, mentors, resident creators, and created in workshops, clubs, and partner programs.

● Present contemporary designed products that respond to the theme of RogExpo 2025.

● Show how innovative approaches can lead to the creation of sustainable and socially responsible products that address urgent social and design challenges.

SELECTION CRITERIA

1. Functionality and usability, as well as origin of creation:
   
   ○ The product is a usable item or a refined prototype.
   
   ○ The product was made in the production workshops of the Rog Center; using multiple different laboratories is an additional advantage.
   
   ○ The product may still be in the process of being made at the time of application but must be completed by September 30, 2025, at the latest. The final decision regarding inclusion in the exhibition will be based on the completed product.
   
2. Relevance to the theme of the exhibition, aesthetics, innovation, and creativity:
   
   ○ The product offers an innovative response to the theme "Borders and Frictions."
   
   ○ High quality of craftsmanship with precision, attention to detail, and final processing.
   
   ○ Efforts to use sustainable production practices and materials that are recycled, natural, locally sourced, or traceably used.
   
   ○ The product is designed to be durable, allowing for recycling, repairs, reuse, or biodegradation.
   

SELECTION OF PRODUCTS

The selection of products for the exhibition will be made by the curators, Alja Fir and Anja Radović, based on the above criteria and curatorial judgment. In addition to meeting the criteria, the authorship or curatorial approach will also be considered.

COMPENSATION FOR EXHIBITORS

● For individual studio users, participants of the Young Rog program, and residents, no exhibition fee is foreseen.

● Independent laboratory users and mentors of the Rog Center, whose products will be presented at the exhibition, will receive compensation in the form of a one-year user package for the Rog Center, valued at €400.

TIMELINE

Publication of program guidelines and application form: March 4, 2025

Informational meeting – presentation of the theme: Monday, April 14, 2025, 11:00

Deadline for submission of proposals: By September 5, 2025

Notification of product selection: By September 19, 2025

Deadline for product submission: September 30, 2025

Exhibition opening: November 12, 2024, 19:00. The exhibition will be on display until February 8, 2026.

FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: alja.fir@center-rog.si, anja.radovic@center-rog.si