With the exhibition 'Unresolved Matters', Utrecht Manifest presents not only a historical or contemporary vision of the social, but at the same time raises the question of why the objects on display can be considered exemplary of a particular social vision.
'Unresolved Matters' displays three influential conceptions of ideal living spaces and the ways artists, designers and architects contributed to these utopias with, amongst others, mutiples by Joseph Beuys, paper dresses from the 1960ies, El Anatsui's Earth Cloth, radio's from the 1940ies-70ies, glass designs by A.D. Copier and Wilhelm Wagenfeld, unique historical film fragments and more. 

Utrecht Manifest 2009
The third edition of Utrecht Manifest, the biennial for social design, will be held this autumn. The starting point is the utopian potential of Modernism, which has left explicit physical and mental traces in Utrecht thanks to De Stijl. After an intensive research period, Utrecht Manifest is the occasion for several projects, meetings and exhibitions on various locations in Utrecht. The programme and its implementation are a group effort resulting from the various contributions of curators, designers, producers and experts in specific fields.
This edition addresses the question of how the social component – rather than the stylistic component – of Modernism could be fleshed out today. Does a desire of that kind still find expression in a typology of architecture or design? Which strategies are relevant for designers, artists, architects, activists, politicians, principals and above all users in this connection? How might education, for example, be organised as an extension of this?
Utrecht Manifest has not opted for an overarching perspective, for example in the form of a choice of theme, but sees a biennial itself primarily as a social event and thus as a social construction with a possible potential all of its own. By giving priority to this perspective within each part of Utrecht Manifest, the question is raised each time of how the social, or rather how the specific form of the social, is produced.

See for more information: www.utrechtmanifest.nl