Artificial intelligence, the circular economy, and neo-craftsmanship…Emerging issues in design

Maria Stylidiadis Finders

Artistic Co-Director - Atelier Luma in Arles

Maria Stylidiadis Finders lives and works in Amsterdam, Arles and Paris. She is co-artistic director of Atelier Luma, and curator of the Forum Luma Days, for the Luma Foundation in Arles. After studying film and art history in Queens and at Concordia and drawing and painting at the National School of Fine Arts in Paris, Maria Finders began a 30-year career in art, business, and technology. In 2002, she joined Art Basel, creating and developing Art Basel Conversations, which she manages in Basel and Miami Beach (2002-2008) with Hans Ulrich Obrist. After joining Brunswick Arts as Europe Director, as a strategic consultant in communications and culture, she founded and organized the Global Art Forum for Art Dubai – Qatar and Dubai, from 2007 to 2009. In 2005, during her tenure at Brunswick, then later at OMA | AMO, Finders has started a decade of projects at the Venice Biennale; Daniel Birnbaum’s Correspondent for Art in 2009, Making Worlds, and Rem Koolhaas for Architecture in 2014, Elements of Architecture; as well as more than 10 national country pavilions including Saudi Arabia, Israel, Greece, Spain, the UK, ADACH…In addition, in Venice, she followed the projects of Axel Vervoordt at Palazzo Fortuny Design with Art Tempo in 2007 until TRA, Edge of Becoming, in 2011. After having created the A2B international symposium, Architecture to Basel in 2001, for Messe Basel Swissbau, Finders pursued a part of her career related to architecture, working on the strategy and the campaign for the Aga Khan Award for Architecture, and for the Mies Prize. Between 2011 and 2014 she was part of the Rem Koolhaas team at OMA | AMO as Director of the Cultural and Creative Council, developing a project with and for Galeries Lafayette and Lafayette Anticipation (Strategy and Building of the Foundation, exhibitions, new categories), Audi, 360 Mall Kuwait, and AMO workshops, among other things.

Fabrice Ausset

Architect & Designer

Marie Godfrain

Journalist

Marie Godfrain is an independent journalist specializing in design, decor, craft, and architecture. Each week, she writes for M, le magazine and works for IDEAT and Le Quotidien de l'Art. Passionate about design since she was a teenager, Marie conveys this passion through the magazines she works with, as well as at ENSCI, where she teaches courses on design history. She has just published a biography of ceramic artist Frederick Gautier with Actes Sud. Through her work, she shows us that design goes well beyond just furniture-making: it supports and shapes ongoing societal shifts.