So, Beijing Design Week is coming up. It's back, and bigger, and better, and overwhelminger than ever. BJDW is to visual art, architecture, and design what JUE Festival is to music: a loosely centralized series of events where the ranks are opened up to anyone to apply to include their project in this massive gestalt of a meta-event happening in practically every corner of the city. It's way, way bigger than JUE though. I guess young designers are more willing than young musicians to work for "exposure" and "networking opportunities" instead of money. I couldn't even begin to list all the stuff happening for BJDW 2014. There's some basic info in the SmBJ listing. In a nutshell, BJDW runs from September 26 - October 3, with major concentrations of exhibits and events in the Dashilar hutong zone south of Qianmen, Sanlitun Village, 798 / 751, and Caochangdi. Lose yourself in the BJDW website for more fine-grained info. What we did this year was hand-pick a few exhibit curators / event organizers associated with BJDW 2014 projects that we thought sounded particularly cool or interesting, and ask them to tell us in plainspoken, non-press-release-curator-speak English what it is that they're actually doing. Most of them copied and pasted their press release anyway but oh well. I guess I'll have to actually do my job as an editor! Here's the SmartBeijing list of Beijing Design Week 2014 things worth your attention: ***

: WAI Think Tank When: September 26 - October 3 Where: Dashilar, ground level of Quanyechang (this year’s main building for the Dashilar Exhibitions, the renovated first shopping mall of Beijing built more than a hundred years ago); just behind Capital M in Qianmen. What it is: Cruz Garcia and Nathalie Frankowski of WAI Think Tank / Intelligentsia Gallery are curating two simultaneous exhibitions for BJDW. Archizines is a selection of 100 architectural fanzines, magazines, and journals from all over the world, selected by Paris/London-based curator Elias Redstone. WAI is sub-curating its Beijing debut. More info on that one here. In parallel to this international selection, Garcia & Frankowski are also curating their own collection of Beijing-based magazines themed around architecture and urban space. That exhibit is called Paper Manifestoes; see all the included publications here and find their schedule of events here. ***

: LEAP + Bactagon When: September 26 – October 2, 11am-7pm daily Where: Dashilar, Cha’er hutong #3 (20m after the soloist cafe on Yangmeizhu, turn right and go north about 100m to Cha'er hutong -- it's on the corner in a newly renovated building) What it is: Contemporary Chinese art magazine LEAP and multi-disciplinary curator collective Bactagon team up to create a reading room in Dashilar: "In an ode to the ways in which printed matter was first experienced, The Bibliorium serves as a contemporary reading room intended to explore the expansive function, history and current use of print. The Bibliorium engages local audiences with one week of programming, including a three-day symposium, the full archives of LEAP and Chutzpah, the newly launched independent journal from bāc-tā-gon, 八家BaJia, a curated library, temporary exhibitions, and a site-specific grove of book-trees by Beijing-based artist, Chen Zhiyuan." Find the full schedule of events here. ***

: Institute for Provocation When: September 26 - October 3 Where: Black Sesame (gallery space within IFP) What it is: The Institute for Provocation hosts a series of artist shows and site-specific works in their adjunct Black Sesame Space, with a schedule of related activities happening for the duration of BJDW. This culminates in a "Speed-dating for Designers and Artists" event on October 3: "a social event taking inspiration from speed-dating to set up a game for designers / artists / creatives to couple and work creatively together [on] specific tasks. After one round, the pairs are shifted again to create new constellations and creative statements." Sign up for that one here, and find the full Black Sesame BJDW calendar here. ***

: Yi Zhou When: September 26 - October 3, 2-6pm daily Where: Dashilar, Yangmeizhu #49 They say: "During BJDW in Dashilar, Body Memory pop up shop is back again at 49 Yangmeizhu street. In the shop, I will provide customized service for people who want to make their own body parts into accessories. At the same time, there is a new ready made collection’Piercing’ will available in the shop." Read our interview with the organizer and artist, Yi Zhou, here. ***

: Concrete Flux When: Wednesday, October 1, 6pm Where: Dashilar, Quanyechang What it is: Beijing journal Concrete Flux launches their third issue, which is themed around the topic of Escapism. "With the launch of Issue III, and the theme of escapism in mind, we ask the public two questions: Why did you come here? Where will you go? The answers will be live projected onto the walls of the space in an attempt to blur the lines between what it means to come to a place, whether that be a geographical location or a frame of mind, and to go somewhere else; to stay and to leave." ***

: Embassy of France to China, Institut Français, Kaiguan Culture, Cross-Media Culture When: Friday, September 26, 8pm Where: Sanlitun, Taikooli Village, Orange Hall What it is: A live music performance "based on the electronic, generative and interactive music produced by Chinese artist Meng Qi and French composer Jacopo Baboni Schilingi. The highlight of the project is the blending of genres: the two composers are of the same generation but have very different backgrounds. A source of artistic encounter." ***

: BLAKK / Echo Inc. When: September 25 - October 3 Where: Dashilar, Yangmeizhu #99 They say: Art / fashion / design shop BLAKK presents a pop-up "sound booth" featuring wares from its adjunct record store, Echo Inc. "Inside the booth, the staff of Echo Inc. will play music all day long, as well as offer a variety of vinyl records for visitors to choose and buy." More info here. ***

: LAVA Beijing When: September 26 - October 3 Where: Dashilar, Quanyechang + surrounding hutongs What it is: Beijing-based firm Lava presents a public-space-oriented exhibit of minimalist, binary designs by their two core founders. "This year's exercise is all about simplifying contradictions of this world: rich/poor, east/west, public/private, etc. Inspired by the Chinese characters around us, in which you can sometimes clearly recognize what image they derive from, we took it upon ourselves to catch today's world in clear visuals. Working with as few strokes as possible, we try to capture abstractions into symbols." The designs will be displayed within a gallery space in Quanyechang, as well as in the surrounding hutongs. There will also be a magazine documenting LAVA's work for this project. ***

: Make Architects + Great Leap When: September 26-30 Where: Great Leap Brewing #12 What it is: Beijing firm Make Architects takes over Great Leap's Sanlitun location for a site-specific installation: "Make Architects explores Beijing’s traditional craft of kite making with a contemporary interpretation of kite design and fabrication. The hand-split bamboo frame becomes a CNC-routed timber framework, hand-painted pictograms become a digital storyboard, and rectilinear design becomes parametric geometry. Lit with reactive LED’s, the lightweight structure responds to visitors touch. Instead of flying, this kite becomes a piece of playful, interactive furniture around which people can gather, drink, and socialize." ***

: Maya Rudolph + Xiaowei Wang When: September 26 - October 3 Where: On busses (map here) What it is: "Loop Beijing is a project that takes place on public busses all over the city. Every bus is a place. Life happens on the bus." US curator / artist / filmmaker duo Maya Rudolph (Iceberg) and Xiaowei Wang are renting a few public buses running specific routes throughout the city; each route has its own custom soundtrack created by a Beijing-based musician or sound artist, which is available for streaming on a custom app. Find full info on participating artists & bus routes here. The individual sound pieces will be debuted at an opening party on Saturday, September 27 at The Other Place. ***

: Fake Music Media When: September 24 - September 28 Where: The Bar at Migas What it is: Fake Music Media's Music and Design (M.A.D.) event series, now in its third year, presents a string of talks and nightlife events at Migas during BJDW. Download the full program here. ***

: The Product Republic When: September 25 - October 3 Where: Dashilar, Yangmeizhu Xi Jie #120 What it is: "The Product Republic (TPR) is a Beijing-based showroom & retail project that reflects the intersections of creativity & consumerism. The Product Republic is a hub for producers, users & consumers, for products to use, to wear, to hear, to read, to look at, and to produce." More info (though not much) here. ***

: Max Gerthel + Wu La When: September 25 - October 3, 3-8pm daily Where: Dashilar, Yangmeizhu Xijie #120 What it is: IFP's Max Gerthel and Wu La will make chairs in Yangmeizhu hutong via their collaborative furniture design project, WAM万物 : "The piece we will be making is called ‘Untitled’, a colourful chair made from wood with seat and back made from nylon straps from backpacks that are woven onto the frame." More info here. *** Well that should do it! There's a whole, whole lot more going on with Beijing Design Week. Find the full program here. Or, just turn up in Dashilar and follow the well-dressed people, those types tend to know a thing or two about design (or how to score free booze @ design events, at least).