Berlin as "UNESCO City of Design" guest at the Madrid Design Festival
- Berlin's creative scene presents itself at the Madrid Design Festival 2025 from 6 February to 15 March 2025
- Studio Gonzalez Haase AAS stages creatives at "Fiesta Design", Frank Oehring shows models of the large ICC light sculpture for the first time in the group exhibition "La Linea Suena"
- ICC Ambassador Stephan Schwarz presents the current competition for the ICC Berlin as a creative location
Berlin, 7 February 2025 From 6 February to 15 March, Berlin will be the guest city for the eighth edition of the Madrid Design Festival. The event, which is expected to attract up to 500,000 visitors, is the most important design festival in Spain and a meeting point for the international design and culture scene. Berlin's appearance will showcase its vibrant creative scene and also draw attention to the German capital's 20th anniversary as a "UNESCO City of Design" next year.
Burkhard Kieker, CEO of visitBerlin: "Madrid has a very sophisticated and interesting design scene. This fits in well with Berlin, the UNESCO City of Design. We want to continue to network and further strengthen this important part of our creative scene."
Berlin programme with renowned designers and newcomers
The Berlin creative scene will be represented on site by both established design studios and young creatives. One highlight of the Madrid Design Festival is the "Fiesta Design" exhibition, where young designers and studios such as Miriam Umin, Pascal Hien and Paleworks will be exhibiting alongside Rafael Horzon. The renowned Studio Gonzalez Haase AAS developed a Berlin scenography together with various Berlin designers for the central presentation in the exhibition. Berlin's presence at the Madrid Design Festival is being realised by visitBerlin and the Senate Department for Economics, Energy and Public Enterprises. The design industry is an important interface and driver of innovation for the entire Berlin economy. With around 13,000 companies and a turnover of 7.2 billion euros, it is a relevant economic and location factor in Berlin, creating around 26,000 jobs.
The International Congress Centre Berlin at the Madrid Design Festival
The International Congress Centre ICC Berlin, an international design icon, is also a topic in Madrid. Berlin light artist Frank Oehring will be showing models and drawings of the iconic ICC light sculpture in the curated group exhibition "La Línea Sueña", which revolves around the theme of light. ICC ambassador and Berlin's former Senator for Economics Stephan Schwarz will also provide insights into the future of the building, which has been closed for ten years. On 19 February, he will be speaking on a panel during the Professional Days ("MadridDesignPRO") about the ongoing international competition to bring the ICC back to life.
"The ICC is not only a design icon and an outstanding example of Berlin's architectural history, but also a symbol of the future viability of our city. We are looking for the best and most viable ideas for a new use of the ICC and are inviting potential investors, project developers and architecture studios to take part in the international competition. I look forward to presenting the process in Madrid and promoting our ICC," says ICC Ambassador Stephan Schwarz.
The guest appearance at the Madrid Design Festival 2025 puts the innovative power of the Berlin design scene centre stage, brings key topics into the international discourse and creates new networks for the design industry. Berlin is a guest city at the festival thanks to its dynamic design scene and history - from Bauhaus and postmodernism to digital and hybrid formats - and not least because the city has held the status of "UNESCO City of Design" since 2006. The design industry is the strongest submarket of Berlin's creative industries.
Berlin's dates as part of the Madrid Design Festival
- 6 February to 20 April 2025: Opening of "La Línea Sueña" at Fernán Gómez; group exhibition on the theme of light
- 12 to 23 February 2025: Opening of "Fiesta Design" with Berlin appearance at the Institución Libre de Enseñanza
- 19 to 22 February 2025: Start of Professional Days "Madrid Design PRO", lectures & discourse at the Institución Libre de Enseñanza
Further information:
madriddesignfestival.lafabrica.com/programa/ciudad-invitada/ I icc.berlin
Insights throughout the Madrid Design Festival on visitBerlin's culture channel: instagram.com/out.of.berlin
Background information and details on the programme, designers and speakers
The UNESCO Creative Cities Network
Berlin has been a UNESCO City of Design since 2006 and is therefore part of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network. Since 2004, the UNESCO "Creative Cities" programme has been networking cities worldwide that have recognised the cultural and creative industries as a driving force for future-oriented, sustainable urban development. The aim is to support the development of local creative industries and strengthen global cooperation for sustainable urban development. As part of its membership, Berlin is realising numerous design projects in Germany and abroad.
To the "Fiesta Design" exhibition
A highlight of Berlin's presentation in Madrid is its appearance at the "Fiesta Design" exhibition, which attracts more than 20,000 visitors with free admission. One room is dedicated exclusively to Berlin designers and creatives. The exhibition concept was staged as a Berlin scenography and was created in collaboration with the renowned Berlin design and architecture firm Gonzalez Haase AAS. Berlin designers were able to submit ideas as part of an open call. The result is a mixture of established names and newcomers: In addition to Rafael Horzon, young designers and studios such as Miriam Umin, Pascal Hien and Paleworks will be exhibiting.
About the exhibition "La Línea Sueña"
Gonzalez Haase AAS are also represented in the exhibition "La Línea Sueña", which is being presented at the Fernán Gómez Centre - here together with Frank Oehring, the creator of the large light sculpture at the ICC Berlin.
The group exhibition is dedicated to the theme of light. Gonzalez Haase AAS are showing their "Lola Lamp". The lamp made of aluminium and mouth-blown glass is representative of Gonzalez-Haase's typical combination of craftsmanship and industrial elements. The modular triangular shape of the lamp allows for a wide range of applications - from wall lamp to room object.
In the exhibition, Frank Oehring, Berlin pioneer of German lighting design, shows models and design drawings for the iconic light sculpture in the International Congress Centre (ICC) Berlin, which is considered an outstanding example of Berlin's architectural history.
Berlin at the "Madrid Design PRO" symposium - a meeting place for the most important voices in design
The ICC Berlin will also play a role at the "Madrid Design PRO" Professional Days. Under the working title "Notes from Berlin: Back to the Future of Design", Stephan Schwarz, honorary ICC ambassador and former Berlin Senator for Economics, will provide insights into the current conceptual process for the new use of the ICC as a visionary location for Berlin's creative industries.
Stephan Schwarz
Stephan Schwarz (born 15 May 1965 in West Berlin), former senator, studied philosophy and history at the Free University of Berlin and the Sorbonne (Paris IV). He then gained his first professional experience at the Paris publishing house L'Arche editeurs before taking over the management of GRG, a company founded by his grandfather in 1920, together with his brother. From 2003 to 2019, he was President of the Berlin Chamber of Crafts. From 2021 to 2023, he was Senator for Economics, Energy and Public Enterprises. He is an honorary ambassador for the ICC and promotes the ongoing concept process for the reuse of the iconic building both at home and abroad.
Gonzalez Haase AAS
Pierre Jorge Gonzalez and Judith Haase founded their own studio in 1999 with offices in Berlin and Paris. Their main fields of work are architecture, design, scenography and lighting. Pierre Jorge studied set design in Paris, while Judith studied architecture at the University of the Arts in Berlin. During their collaboration in New York with Richard Gluckman and Robert Wilson for Wilson's Watermill Centre, they had their first opportunity to develop new architectural solutions for the presentation of art. The interplay of light and architecture remains a central element in the design of spaces for art and related activities. Gonzalez Haase AAS is known for working closely with contemporary artists, curators and collectors to create the optimal environment for a work of art, a luxury object or a performer's body.
Frank Oehring
Frank Oehring lives and works as an artist in Berlin. In his Kreuzberg studio, he creates large-format colourful wall reliefs, light objects and freestanding sculptures for public and private spaces in addition to numerous works for public spaces. After studying painting in the 1960s at what is now the Berlin University of the Arts, Frank Oehring developed complex neon sculptures and, in the 1970s, the information and guidance system and the ten-metre-high GROSSE LICHTPLASTIK for the International Congress Centrum - ICC Berlin. These early works were documented in the film "NEON LICHT KUNST - Objekte, die leuchten" (NEON LIGHT ART - Objects that shine) produced by ZDF, with the artists Stefan Antonakis, Cork Macheschi, Bruce Nauman and Frank Oehring as the only Europeans.
Since the 1990s, he has been creating spatial objects made of aluminium, colour field sculptures and reliefs made of spherically shaped surfaces and bands; they are painted like canvases whose pulsating colour surfaces seem to glow in depth depending on the incidence of light, abstract colour-light-sound compositions that constantly change with the changing daylight.
Exhibitions Modus Berlin, Glyptothek Munich, retrospective at the Berliner Festspielgalerie, Akademie der Künste Berlin, DAAD Gallery Berlin, Aedes West-Berlin, Extension Pavillon of the Aedes Gallery Berlin, Brandenburgisches Landesmuseum für moderne Kunst, Kunstgewerbemuseum der Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin. His works are represented in private and public collections.
Weitere Künstler:innen
Other of the 20 participating designers are Rafael Horzon, Miriam Umin, Pascal Hien, Paleworks, Tina Roeder, 032c, Matylda Krzykowski, Illya Goldman Gubin.
Works of art by the participating artists
