This year’s Jerusalem Design Week theme examines the NOW. It considers the present as a temporal, time-related trap which compresses both past and future, and asks designers to reassess their agency. The quickening pace of technological change, radical social transformations, and threats to the world’s ecological stability, make the future impossible to predict. For these same reasons, the past is impossible to sustain. The design world fundamentally echoes, acts in, and serves the prevailing zeitgeist. A persistence of short-term thinking in the present—viewing design as ephemeral—demands new approaches from designers. For that reason, questioning and challenging the status quo is more important than ever. JDW 2022 aims to explore design and ephemerality, with a focus on the present time—‘the NOW’—and its impact on the field of design.

200 Israeli and international designers will participate in over 40 events, exhibitions, and installations. Moreover, JDW will see new collaborations with leading local and international partners. With design centred around a yearly theme, JDW encourages non-commercial works and a cross-disciplinary approach in targeting new formats for exhibitions, performances, and events.