Dutch Design Week 2024 – A Generation's Quest to Reinvent Society

I visited the DDW2024 and this year’s Dutch Design Week (DDW 2024) is a creative explosion, a platform where artists, designers, and innovators gathered to inspire, challenge, and rethink the world as we know it. The expositions were not just aesthetically stimulating but intellectually invigorating, prompting visitors to explore the intersection of creativity, technology, and societal issues. However, the most captivating aspect for me personally was the exploration of ideas surrounding the obsolescence of capitalism—particularly through the lens of Generation Z.

In a world already manufactured and organized, Gen Z is not, as some believe, lazy or weak. They are inheritors of a system they had no hand in building yet are expected to perpetuate. Through the exhibitions, the recurring theme was their questioning of whether the current societal model is worth maintaining. Do they need to continue running in the same capitalist mode that prioritizes relentless growth, productivity, and consumerism, or should they pivot towards something radically different?

One display that particularly resonated with this sentiment was titled "Outpost for Unreal Institutions," a nine-day research studio that probed the rigidity of modern institutions and their struggle to break free from the status quo. It highlighted a growing disillusionment with how these structures often fail to bring about meaningful change. Gen Z, it seems, is on a quest to deconstruct this framework and explore new ways of defining goals, work, values, and life's overall focus.

This generation’s discontent with capitalism isn’t just born out of frustration but out of a deeply empathetic desire to repair collective futures. They seek to challenge established norms and imagine futures that foster well-being over productivity, cooperation over competition. It was eye-opening to see how much of the artistic narrative at DDW revolved around these aspirations. Pieces like "What’s Your S.O.U.L. Worth?" questioned our relationship with data, surveillance, and commodification, while other installations explored the relentless grind culture, asking: “Is this working for us anymore?”

Gen Z’s underlying concern was clear—they want a different future, one where work doesn’t come at the expense of well-being, where societal systems foster inclusivity, sustainability, and emotional resilience. As they stand at the crossroads of change, the DDW 2024 offered not only a window into their creative expressions but also a broader contemplation of how we can collectively transition to a more just, equitable world that moves beyond the limitations of capitalism.