Design

A creative showcase at the crossroads of reality and imagination

With its rich programme and bold thematic focus, Design Month Graz 2025 affirmed its role as a cultural amplifier at the intersection of art, design, and technology.

Design Month Graz 2025 concluded with a powerful testament to the role of design in navigating the complexities of our time. Under the compelling theme “The New Real”, this year’s edition saw over 50,000 visitors attend more than 140 events, with contributions from creative professionals representing 15 nations. The month-long celebration not only embraced the intersection of artificial intelligence and human creativity but also marked the final edition under the leadership of one of Austria’s most influential design figures, Eberhard Schrempf.

Design Month Graz 2025 _ Eberhard Schrempf © Miriam Raneburger
Design Month Graz 2025, Eberhard Schrempf, Director of Creative Industries Styria Network – © Miriam Raneburger

The New Real: exploring human creativity in the age of AI

Kicking off on May 9 with a widely lauded grand opening, Design Month Graz immersed the city in a dialogue on how AI challenges and expands the boundaries of human creativity. The festival’s central exhibition, also titled The New Real, transformed the Hornig Areal into a boundary-blurring multimedia experience. Featuring 50 AI-generated video artworks from artists across countries like France, South Korea, Ukraine, Canada, and the USA, the installation dissolved the line between reality and virtuality, inviting visitors to contemplate a future where artificial and human creativity coexist and collide.

Design Month Graz 2025, Grand Opening – © Miriam Raneburger

Design Month Graz 2025: global voices, local energy

This year’s programme offered a dynamic mix of international perspective and local engagement. Portugal’s contribution through the “Stitching the Centuries” exhibition — in partnership with the University of Graz — stood out as a cultural tapestry linking past and future. Argentinian media designer Eduardo Fuhrmann debuted “Oracles of Possible Futures”, while Germany’s renowned design voice Eike König provoked consumerist reflection with his exhibition “What is, is more than it is”, a poetic nod to Adorno.

Design Month’s global pull was equally matched by the national design community’s vibrant presence. With around 160 programme partners, Graz — a UNESCO City of Design — became a lively canvas for designers, thinkers, and makers from around the world. Events such as Rebel Prints by the screen-printing duo Poster Rex lent a raw political edge to the festival’s eclectic mix.

Design Month Graz 2025, ALMFRISCHE Trahütten – ©LIPP ZAHNSCHIRM

Design in the city: where ideas meet everyday life

“Design in the City”, one of the festival’s most accessible initiatives, brought design into the daily rhythm of Graz. Twenty-one downtown shops participated in showcasing objects by national and international designers under the thoughtful motto of “Slow Shopping”. These curated encounters emphasized sustainability, craftsmanship, and material consciousness, further enriched by thematic walking tours organized with GrazGuides, attracting particular attention from tourists.

Beyond the city centre, satellite events like “Design ab Hof” in Pöllau, “Absteige zur bärtigen Therese” in Trahütten, and the well-loved “Schloss Hollenegg for Design” continued the conversation in rural and historical contexts — proving that design, in its truest form, is not confined to urban boundaries.

Design Month Graz 2025, Hollenegg Castle – © Miriam Raneburger

A farewell to a visionary

For Eberhard Schrempf, who has led Creative Industries Styria (CIS) since its inception in 2007, this edition was a poignant finale. A vocal advocate for interdisciplinary collaboration and international cultural exchange, Schrempf used his farewell as a platform to advocate for the continued funding and evolution of Design Month Graz.

Design Month Graz has developed a strong network and positions the city on the international map. We must build on this foundation and avoid jeopardizing it through shortsighted cuts,” said Schrempf, urging stakeholders to preserve the spirit and ambition of the festival.

Design Month Graz 2025 _ Design ab Hof (c)GEOPHO-4367
Design Month Graz 2025, Design ab Hof (c)GEOPHO-4367

With its rich programme and bold thematic focus, Design Month Graz 2025 affirmed its role as a cultural amplifier at the intersection of art, design, and technology. As the torch passes to a new generation of leadership, the challenge will be to honour the foundations laid by Schrempf while pushing even further into new creative territories.

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