TRACERIES: Designing MeaningThrough Art in a Diluted,Distracted World

Artist and designer Ian Douglas-Jones explains the essence of ‘TRACERIES’, the group show he has co-ordinated for our satellite event ‘Design in the City’, exploring the interplay between light, matter, memory, and urban landscapes, blurring the boundaries between art, design, and commercial spaces. TRACERIES is about the intersection of perception, materiality, and urban memory. As a response to the mediation of the urban experience through digital screens and artificially generated content, the artist examines how light, time, and human perception leave marks—or traceries—on both our cities and our consciousness. In an age of digital distraction, TRACERIES offers a deliberate return to material presence, human touch, and the sublime possibilities of in-person experience. Douglas-Jones positions art and design not as separate disciplines, but as collaborative tools for unlocking hidden layers of our urban environment and generating deeper cultural value within contemporary city-making.