Weekly design agenda: Design Indaba

The best and biggest design fair in Africa opens. Also coming up: exhibitions by Ron Arad and Zaha Hadid, the Saloni in Milan and the Brit Insurance Awards.

Ron Arad: Restless
February 18 - May 16
London, UK

The designer's first major UK exhibition at the Barbican Gallery will span three decades of his work. Due to the importance of movement in Arad's designs, visitors will be encouraged to experience the works hands-on.
http://www.barbican.org.uk

Design Indaba
February 26-28
International Convention Centre
Cape Town, South Africa

Held once a year, the Design Indaba gathers creatives from a broad range of industries including graphic and industrial design, architecture, fashion, advertising, film, music,  television and publishing.
http://www.designindaba.com

The State of Things: Design and the 21st Century
March 4 - May 14
Holon, Israel

The opening exhibition for the Design Museum Holon will present over one hundred products, which collectively exhibit issues of practice, consumption, and cultural impact of contemporary international design, within the celebrated building designed by Ron Arad.

http://www.dmh.org.il

Furniture in the 20th Century
March 6
Victoria & Albert Museum
London, UK

Surveying major designers and centres of furniture design and production, this international conference will approach topics such as Bauhaus furniture and post-war Italian design from new perspectives. Speakers include Juliet Kinchin (Museum of Modern Art, New York), Marjan Groot (Leiden University), Greg Castillo (University of California, Berkeley), Glenn Adamson (V&A/RCA) and Christopher Wilk (V&A). Tickets cost £45 (€51).
http://www.vam.ac.uk

Saloni
March 14-19
Rho exhibition centre
Milan, Italy

The event, which is considered the international benchmark of interior design, will again host the Salone Internazionale del Mobile, Eurocucina (the International Kitchen Furniture Exhibition), and SaloneSatellite for upcoming designers. SaloneUfficio, the International Biennial Workspace Exhibition, will not be included this year but return in 2011. New York and Moscow will also host Saloni spin-offs later in the year.
http://www.cosmit.it

Zaha Hadid - Fluidity and Design
March 15 - April 30
Bahrain

For her inaugural exhibition in the Gulf at Cartesian galleries of the Shaikh Ebrahim Center, the Pritzker Prize winning architect presents her practice's continued exploration and research towards a new architectural language of fluidity that encompasses all scales of design.

http://www.zaha-hadid.com

Brit Insurance Design Awards
March 16
London, UK

The winner of the prize, which span seven categories from architecture to fashion and product design, will be announced at an award dinner hosted by London's Design Museum.

http://www.designsoftheyear.com