When in 1969 Buckminster edited his anticipatory book “Manual for Spaceship Earth”, where this paragraph is taken from, he believed that by the 21st century these questions would no longer be asked. That humanity would have reached an evolutionary level where the barriers created by space, by beliefs and by race would be diluted.

The beginning of the 21st Century unavoidably presents itself as a unique moment of profound transformation on various levels, embodying a time where we will inevitably be forced to review that which we take for granted and redesign a substantial part of our operational structures.

In many cases, defining a border means evidencing a difference and somehow transforming it into an obstacle. “NO BORDERS” is centered on the detection and analysis of some of the principle barriers and frontiers that human beings, as social animals, have created over time. It explores not only the identification and definition of these barriers, but also the development of possible solutions that may allow for their transformation.

Furthermore, it assumes that collaboration and cooperation represent fundamental vehicles for social development, wherein the creation of an effective context that allows them to exist becomes a priority. This context is intimately connected to the dismantling of some of the borders that we have created and intimately linked to the development of new material or immaterial tools, be they on a small or grand scale.

When we refer to borders that are inherent to our structures we automatically refer to them in their multiple and diverse forms. We look at borders that are anthropological, cultural, social, geographic, technological, economic and financial. Physical, mental, material, immaterial and emotional. These represent a truly multidisciplinary and transnational territory that is extremely current and within which design will play a fundamental role.

Thus, experimentadesign launches as a central theme for the EXD’13 Lisboa one of the great subjects of this century, and calls upon designers, architects, theorists, producers, researchers, economists, managers, politicians and the general public for a comprehensive and plural discussion of its meaning.

“Where do you live?” “What are you?” “What religion?” “What race?” “What nationality?”, are all thought of today as logical questions. By the twenty-first century it either will have become evident to humanity that these questions are absurd and anti-evolutionary or men will no longer be living on Earth.”

Buckminster Fuller, in Manual for Spaceship Earth, 1969