BERLIN, GERMANY.- In May 2005, Berlin-based festival DESIGNMAI will take place for the third time. From May 5-16, there will be a host of events of all kinds, offering insights into the contemporary design scene. Once again the program will include not only several large exhibitions at a central location but also a multitude of other satellite events throughout Berlin including award ceremonies, parties and happenings in unusual settings.

The focal theme of this year's DESIGNMAI is "Brave New Worlds?". The aim of our motto is to encourage people to look at how present-day design is gaining in social importance - be it through advertising, in the context of the home, through genetic research, plastic surgery or the continual emergence of new living spaces. But does design help make the world a better place? How can we achieve a situation where design is put to the service of man and not vice versa? What fields of activity will concern the designers of tomorrow? DESIGNMAI 2005 sets out to discuss these and other issues.

DESIGNMAI 2005's core events will include several exhibitions. One of these is the exhibition "JUNG+DEUTSCH" ("Young + German"). The exhibition, supported by the Federal Cultural Foundation (Kulturstiftung des Bundes) and realized in co-operation with the Goethe-Institute, will be presenting a new generation of German designers that has emerged in recent years and is now setting trends globally. The exhibition takes up the focal theme of "Brave New Worlds?" by showing the way many of these designers not only shape products and environments but also repeatedly use their work to make a contribution to the social discourse, taking the initiative as entrepreneurs themselves and a new proactive approach of their own to technologies, engaging with questions relating to the role of the designer in society and even on the question of what is "typically German" in design. The exhibition will be presented at "Designer's Week" in Tokyo in October 2005 as part of the official festival "Germany in Japan". In addition to the exhibition an exchange program with German and Japanese designers will take place.