Just one last date in the SVA MFA Design Criticism autumn/winter lecture series, which so far has included talks with Pentagram partner Abbott Miller, Museum of the City of New York curator Donald Albrecht, photographer Jason Fulford and design critic Peter Hall. The 15th of December is the turn of Antenna Design co-founders Masamichi Udagawa and Sigi Moeslinger, who are headlining under the banner 'Design for Activation'.

This exhibition, organised by MOCA curator Philipp Kaiser and Los Angeles–based architects Frank Escher and Ravi GuneWardena, surveys architectural follies from around the world. A fascination of architects and scholars for centuries, follies are autonomous structures that might serve as memorials, meeting points, or observation towers; typically, they serve no function at all. Offering a comparative overview of these structures—ranging from the Pantheon at Stourhead in Wiltshire, England, and Lucy the Elephant in Margate, N.J., to Bernard Tschumi’s Park de la Villette in Paris, France, this show revolves a site-specific folly of Escher GuneWardena’s own design. 

Under the curatorship of Konstantin Grcic, Design Real is the Serpentine Gallery’s first exhibition devoted to contemporary design. The renowned industrial designer will present a selection of ‘real’ items: mass-produced objects with a practical function in everyday life. From furniture and household products to technical and industrial innovations, featured works include those by Zaha Hadid, Ross Lovegrove, Jasper Morrisson, Yves Behar, Naoto Fukasawa and Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec; alongside a municipal recycling bin and a Volvo trail light. Grcic has designed a research space in the Gallery’s central space especially for the exhibition and its dedicated website is an integral part of the overall concept.

For its second exhibition, this contemporary design gallery has invited 15 international designers and artists to present contemporary interpretations of this classic everyday object. Highlighting the tensions between different materials, production methods and approaches, those taking part include Werner Aisslinger, Giulia Maria Beretta, Frédéric Dedelley, Oscar Diaz, Martí Guixé, Alfredo Häberli, Robin van Hontem, Nicolas Le Moigne, Julia Maendler, osko+deichmann, Ursula Palla, Tina Roeder, Robert Stadler, Studio Glithero and Hermann August Weizenegger.

In the mid-1960s designers defied conventions in the field of interiors with formless furniture. Inspired by art they experimented with material in order to find alternatives to furniture existing at the time. This exhibition shows the validity of the maxim ‘form follows material’ that redefined the relationship between form and material. Seating objects by the likes of Gunnar A. Andersen, Gaetano Pesce and Ron Arad appear alongside the work of Jerszy Seymour and Big Game, with space also given to the computer-generated ‘Blobjects’ of Karim Rashid.

Les Rencontres de Bamako – Biennale Africaine de la Photographie - might be a good pretext to escape the darkness of November - in search for the light in Mali’s capital – in the full running for its 8th edition on the African image and identity. The high ambition is to make Bamako a synonym for ‘African capital of image’.

Under the title ‘Borders’ the event deals with what it says: territorial borders, “from natural barriers to artificial lines traced across the earth, in Africa more than elsewhere, borders and their complex realities represent current problematics and the crystallizations of processes which are political, economic, socio-cultural, and at this time particularly tied up with ethnic, cultural, religious and other sorts of personal and group identifications.” This pan-African contemporary initiative has selected and invited some 40 photographers.

In its 15 years existence the Bamako Encounters have premiered many African photographers, promoting them to the global stage of photographic events. The full exhibition programme in the city will be supported by a symposium, screenings and learning trails – all initiatives to better connect the locals of Bamako closer to the biennial.  

The full title of this exhibition, Balkanology. New Architecture and Urban Phenomena in Southeast Europe, is a neat wrap on its content. Organised by the SAM (Swiss Architecture Museum, Basel) in cooperation with the Az W, the show aims to put the rapid process of urban transformation and the architecture in the former-socialist republics of Southeast Europe firmly into focus. With examples from Belgrade, Pula, Sofia, Tirana, Prishtina and Zagreb, Balkanology highlights how architects, urbanists and activists have sought to engage in these changes in the context of the region’s cultural, social and political dimensions.

With the choice of Spring, the organisers of this annual showcase of Czech design have taken a promisingly upbeat response to the theme of crisis and focused their attentions on possibilities of renaissance. Participants include showrooms, galleries & stores for design, interior accessories and fashion, and the event will also incorporate presentations from individual designers & studios, design schools and other institutions. The accompanying programme takes place in different inspirational ‘Superstudios’, and alongside premieres from Czech manufacturers such as footwear producer Botas, lighting specialist Eco, and watchmaker Prim, international brands such as Artemide, Zumtobel and Vitra will also be taking part.

Exploring the theme of the manipulation and reconstruction of reality through photographic images and videos, this show at the CCCS features the work of 23 international contemporary artists. Highlighting the increased ambiguity between recording reality and the parallel falsification of that reality that is the by-product of easy-to-use digital technology, one of the questions posed is ‘Do artists still care about the concepts of reality and truth?’ Among the participants are the following artists: Olivo Barbieri, Sonja Braas, Thomas Demand, Elena Dorfman, Andreas Gursky, Osang Gwon, Ilkka Halso, Robin Hewlett & Ben Kinsley, Cindy Sherman and Paolo Ventura,

Some 130 galleries come together for the 14th edition of this art fair. Alongside contemporary art, for the first time a series of galleries will be admitted that present art since the 1960s. Young galleries – in existence for less than five years – are also given prominence, and the International Art Show will introduce the open air sector for the presentation of installations and sculptures in the summer garden of the Palais am Funktrum. The event is also supported by several special exhibitions, presentations and panel discussions, with highlights including Thomas Demand at the New National Gallery and the thematic exhibition, Utopia Matters, at the Deutsche Guggenheim.