„Design After Tomorrow“ – virtual gallery established by VTDK, inciting positivity for the pandemic period

Would you like to look at the day after tomorrow and predict what it will be like? Answer all the uncertainties? It is possible – you need to look at the virtual exhibition "Design After Tomorrow", where the work of students from several countries takes us back to the post-pandemic period.

Designaftertomorrow.com – it is a website in which the works of students of various study programs of Vilnius College of Technology and Design and foreign higher education institutions are located. The virtual gallery is divided into the following areas: Graphic and communication design, Digital design, Photo media, Interior, furniture and equipment design, Lighting and video installations and Three-dimensional plastic. Jonas Malinauskas, the Chairman of the College Graphic Design Study Program Committee, explains more about the virtual gallery.

How did the idea for the „Design of Tomorrow“ website come about?

The idea to create a virtual gallery of student works using the „WIX“ platform came up for the faculty lecturers in 2019. It was then thought as an additional digital tool to publicize the results of the VTDK Design Days. It should be noted that at that time the name "Design for Tomorrow" had a slightly more positive meaning.

International digital gallery Designaftertomorrow.com / VTDK photo

What is the main idea behind this project?

The main idea slightly changed when the pandemic started – now it includes works that show how design, media content and aesthetic expression can change in the post-pandemic period.

What message does this exhibition convey and what feelings does it evoke to the public?

The main message is: design and media, like other types of art, must adapt to social change, reflect the mood of society and, as far as possible, offer positive opportunities for its development.

How will this website be further developed: will the virtual exhibition be constantly updated?

Yes, the effectiveness and popularity of a website depends for the most part on its constant updating of its content, so we aim to accommodate, according to our possibilities, as diverse and interesting updates as possible – both the works of the students of our College and partner institutions’. In the future, we intend to link the website updates to other remote and "live" College events, as they can further promote the content of the website.

What are the benefits of this virtual exhibition for students and society, in your opinion?

Students have the opportunity to get acquainted with the creative works of students of other study programs and other higher education institutions (what you not always manage to do "live"). And the public has the opportunity to see and appreciate a wide range of art projects in a single digital space.

     In the website of the exhibition Designaftertomorrow.com / VTDK photo

What are the success signs of this website?

The website has served as an active alternative to regular exhibitions, which organization has been problematic recently. The attendance of the website jumped strongly in May this year, when it became the main exhibition space of the VTDK Design Days. Students were given the opportunity not only to exhibit creative works in various fields, but also to introduce them to a wider circle of website visitors.

"Design for Tomorrow" also attracted the attention of students and teachers from other schools, because the placement of works in it is equivalent to the organization of an exhibition abroad. Currently the website, in addition to the College's student works, contains the works by Latvian, Polish, Romanian and Estonian students and lecturers.

You can visit the website and "walk around" its virtual gallery here.