The Incidental – write all about it

Technophobes will be able to submit personal highlights to the team by scribbling directly onto The Incidental, or anything to hand and by texting or emailing the team. For those not able to attend this year our roving reporters will be around to answer questions sent to us from the international design community. The best quest of the day will feed into the next day’s issue and will feature alongside contributions by a select group of guest commentators including Michael Marriot, Peter Marigold and Roberto Feo. The Incidental will run daily illustrations from Oscar Narud and a serialised short story by Damien Barr as well as a daily lament about not attending the Fair from Thorsten van Elten entitled Should I stay or should I go. Other key elements of the paper will include a daily barometer showing where the most popular exhibitions and events of the week are, determined by the levels of responses about them.

5,000 copies distributed daily by our team of bicycle messengers to key locations around the Fair including Tom Dixon’s stand at Superstudio Piu, Established & Sons at La Pelota, The British Design Embassy at Villa Reale, SCP at the Fiera and Bar Basso at Via Plinio.  

The Incidental is guest curated by Daniel Charny and designed by Åbäke, both of whom will be on site in Milan to respond to feedback spontaneously, whether this means changing the content or even the style of the paper, demonstrating the ability that design has to provide a flexible and mutating service for its audience.

Alison Moloney, Co Director of Architecture, Design, Fashion at the British Council commented:

“We hope that The Incidental will be a platform for everyone to engage with at the Fair and that as many people as possible will contribute to this experiment and offer an opinion on this year’s event.”

For more press information regarding the British Council please contact Eleanor Hutchins on 020 7389 4981 or eleanor.hutchins@britishcouncil.org

Notes to Editors

·         For more information and to get in touch visit www.theincidental.org, email theincidental@britishcouncil.org or text to +44 7789 928 338

·         Daily twitter feed :.During the fair, include “#milan09” this tag means we will be able to pick up all public tweets and the best tweets of the day will appear in The Incidental

·         Flickr uploads : Upload your photos and tag them with “milan09” this means we can find your photos. Don’t forget to upload your photos with a Creative Commons (CC) license which means we’re able to feature you in The Incidental (we’ll always credit).

·         Direct: Text us your thoughts and reactions at +44 7789 928 338 or email us at theincidental@britishcouncil.org with your stories, thoughts and quests of the day.

·         The British Council is the UK’s international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations. We work in over 100 countries worldwide to build engagement and trust for the UK through the exchange of knowledge and ideas between people. We work in the arts, education, science, sport and governance and last year we reached over 128 million people. We are a non-political organisation which operates at arm’s length from government. Our total turnover in 2007/8 was £565 million, of which our grant-in-aid from the British government was £197 million. For every pound of grant we receive, we generate an additional £1.92. For more information, please visit www.britishcouncil.org