About DEVET

Annelys de Vet (1974, NL, she/her) is a Belgium-based designer, researcher, and educator with a practice for long-term, participative design projects that actively engage in social and political struggles.

Currently, De Vet is a PhD researcher at ARIA, a practice-led doctoral study at Sint Lucas School of Arts and the University of Antwerp. Her research focuses on the conditions of design pedagogy to counteract oppression and injustice through design. She teaches in the master's program in a social-political context at the Sint Lucas School of Arts, and regularly lectures on alternative cartography, critical pedagogy, and relational design practices at various institutions worldwide.

De Vet established the temporary master's program 'Disarming Design' (2019–2022) at the Sandberg Instituut Amsterdam, dedicated to design practices in situations of oppression at the intersection of design, crafts, politics, pedagogy, community, and activism. She edited 'Design Dedication’ (Valiz, 2020), a publication exploring adaptive mentalities in design education informed by heading the MA in Design 'Think tank for Visual strategies' at the Sandberg Instituut in Amsterdam from 2009 to 2019.

De Vet initiated the publishing initiative 'Subjective Editions,' which provides publications mapping countries from the inside out, offering a human perspective. Notable publications in this series include the 'Subjective Atlas of Amsterdam' (2023), 'Subjective Atlas of Brussels' (2018), 'Subjective Atlas of Colombia' (2015), and 'Subjective Atlas of Palestine' (2007).

Additionally, De Vet co-founded 'Disarming Design from Palestine,' a thought-provoking design platform developing artisanal products from Palestine that convey alternative narratives about life under occupation. This initiative started in 2012 in collaboration with Khaled Hourani and the International Academy of Arts Palestine. In 2015 it continued as an independent non-profit organization based in Belgium and Palestine since 2015.

As a total, the body of work explores the role of design in public and political discourse, seeking to develop methods, structures, and tools that empower a pluralist society through design. The different projects explore how design can be a powerful activism and social change tool. The approach encourages critical thinking about the role of design in society, challenging dominant narratives, questioning preconceptions, and prompting discussions about the ethics and responsibilities of designers in addressing complex social and political problems.

AnnelysDevet2019_zw.jpg
CONTACT
 

ARTICLES

.

 

RE/INTER—VIEWS

 

PODCASTS

 

LECTURES/conversations

What does it mean to live in Luxembourg from a social and cultural point of view? What are the issues ? How to subjectively map the imperatives, sensitivities and complexities linked to it? Artists, designers and other creatives from Luxembourg are invited to raise their visual voices during a three-day workshop organized at Casino Luxembourg. Guided by the designer Annelys de Vet, contributors of the Luxembourg Subjective Atlas are invited to share their personal experiences, their intuitions and their multiple visions of the Luxembourg context. In the context of Design City LX Festival, and with the support of the Œuvre Nationale de Secours Grande-Duchesse Charlotte.
Annelys de Vet is a Dutch designer and initiator. She is the head of the Masters in Design of the Sandberg Institute, founder of the Subjective Atlas editions that map regions from inside out, and founder of Disarming Design from Palestine, a design label that develops and presents thought provoking products from Palestine. http://www.disarmingdesign.com http://www.subjectiveatlas.info/
May‌ ‌16th‌ ‌2019,‌ ‌DAE‌ ‌Lecture‌ ‌Series‌ ‌welcomed‌ ‌Flavia‌ ‌DZODAN‌ ‌and‌ ‌Annelys‌ ‌DE‌ ‌VET.‌ ‌ ‌Annelys‌ ‌De‌ ‌Vet‌ ‌:‌ ‌‌https://devet.squarespace....
Thursday April 4 the design department of the Sandberg Instituut organized a symposium on their program (aka Think tank for Visual Strategies) as it has developed over the years. With a selfless, committed, curious, serious, humorous, and above all hazardous mentality plus a wide diversity of tools, the department has been investing in what matters, through design. Annelys de Vet shows how the program has stimulated design as an instrument for transformation. As such we stood still for a moment and looked at where we are coming from, how we can qualify results and what the potential for the future could be. Annelys de Vet has been heading the program since 2008 and will leave this function after the summer to develop a temporary masters programme about design in conflicted realities with a focus on Palestine. Anja Groten will continue developing the Design Department as the future head with the incentive to provoke new and challenging forms of design pedagogies. During the symposium recent alumni and students showed what the program has meant for them, followed by statements of external critics Marina Otero (Nieuwe Instituut) and Hicham Khalidi (Jan van Eyck Academie). After this, we want to set up a conversation with you, the public, following the questions above. This will be moderated by Huib Haye van der Werf. #annelysdevet #designdepartment #sandberginstituut
بالتعاون مع دارة الفنون، استضاف أسبوع عمّان للتصميم "تصاميم من فلسطين"، وهو برنامج تبادلي للمصممين والحرفيين من الأردن وفلسطين وهولندا. In collaboration with Darat al Funun, Amman Design Week hosts Disarming Design from Palestine, an exchange program for designers and craftspeople from Jordan, Palestine, and the Netherlands. ammandesignweek.com | disarmingdesign.com

Introduction symposium 'New urgencies’, by Annelys de Vet, 27 september 2016, Beursschouwburg in Brussel

MAPPING THE ALTERNATIVE Conference & meeting with Annelys de Vet and Kurt Vanbelleghem 25 October 2018, Casino Luxembourg, Forum d'Art Contemporain After the subjective atlases on Palestine, the Province of Hainaut, the Netherlands, Mexico or Brussels, a subjective atlas on Luxembourg?
Winnaar van de Henry Van de Velde Communicatie Award 2016: Disarming Design from Palestine Winner of the Henry Van de Velde Communication Award 2016: Disarming Design from Palestine --- De Henry van de Velde Awards zijn de grootste designprijzen van België, uitgereikt door Flanders DC.
Brussels based Dutch designer Annelys de Vet is working on a growing series of “subjective atlases”. These publications are attempts to make meaningful contributions to the discourse around cultural image formation, in a creative, disarming and sensitive yet critical way. The books are ‘mapping’ a country, region or political entity with personal means. Artists, designers and other sensitive souls map their country by their shoe collection, the food they eat, the products they own, the paths they walk, the people they meet, the flowers they pick, the money they earn, the dreams they have or the fears they hide. The uncommon connections made in the various visual inventories and maps reveal things that usually remain invisible. In the context of the atlas, everyday practices suddenly take on new meanings. The cultural dialogue that arises between the various contributions puts personal experience into a wider context. Which collective values are shared? Which stories do the citizens place at centre stage? The atlases serve as a humanist response to the increasing simplification of the political debate and the complacency of power. In contrast to the often propagandist tenor of the mass media, the books show, above all, a complex reality that lies beyond one dimensional blinding media images. At best, the pluralistic representations in the atlases can contribute to a more democratic public discourse. On the occasion of two new issues this autumn - the 'Subjective atlas of Hungary' and the 'Subjective atlas of Mexcio -' a special night is organized in WIELS. The latest atlases will be presented by Annelys de Vet, the Hungarian co-editor Attila Bujdosó and the co-editor of the Mexican atlas Moniek Driesse.
Dit ontwerp werd onderscheiden met een eervolle vermelding. Opdrachtgever: Hugo Engwerda, Academie voor Popcultuur Omschrijving: Wat betekent het om nu in Fryslân te wonen? Wat kenmerkt het dagelijks leven? Hoe vertaalt het verleden zich naar de toekomst? Een groep ontwerpers en kunstenaars, die wonen of gewoond hebben in Fryslân, heeft aan de hand van deze vragen de provincie van binnenuit in kaart gebracht. Een breed palet aan onderwerpen komt aan de orde: van zelfredzaamheid tot zorg, van boerderijen tot hoogbouw en van oranjekoeken tot beeldende kunst. Het resultaat is een collectie beelden, kaarten en foto’s die iets van de huidige ziel van Fryslân ontsluiert. Deze atlas is daarmee een poëtische vorm van antropologie die de actuele identiteit van Fryslân bevraagt, voorbij de nostalgie en clichés. Jury: Als dwarsdoorsnede van wat er allemaal in deze provincie te beleven en te zien is, is het een heel mooi tijdsdocument. De eigen omgeving wordt met frisse ogen bekeken. Heel goed ook dat de benadering niet romantisch is, het gaat niet uit van Fryslân als plek van ambacht en landbouw. Een ideaal geschenk voor Leeuwarden als Culturele Hoofdstad. Het ontwerp is als onderzoek gelaagder dan als object. Het is duidelijk dat een grondig onderzoek prioriteit heeft gehad boven een fantastisch esthetisch resultaat. Dat is een keuze van de initiatiefneemster, die al een hele reeks van dit type atlassen voor binnen- en buitenland heeft gemaakt. Daarmee wordt de kritische blik van deze Atlas op de cultuur van Fryslân geplaatst binnen een groter geheel. Deze filmimpressie is gemaakt in opdracht van Provinsje Fryslân voor de genomineerden van de Vredeman de Vriesprijs 2013. De film is gemaakt door Thomas Roebers & Bastiaan Blaauw