“De optimo rei publicae deque nova
insula Utopia”
"Of a republic's best state and of
the new island Utopia"
Thomas More 1516
London: Somerset
House – London Design Biennale 2016 – Utopia by Design. The theme of the first
edition of the London Design Biennale was Utopia by Design which celebrated the
500th anniversary of the publication of Sir Thomas More’s classic, Utopia
(1516). The first ever London Design Biennale, opened
to the public for a three-week take-over of Somerset House. Installations,
artworks, prototypes and designs from 37 countries and territories came
together in an entertaining and inspiring exploration of the role of design in
our collective futures.
Above
– Public Medal Award – Albania. In The Edmond J. Safra Fountain Court, the Albanian
installation, entitled Bliss reflected the grandeur of the Neoclassical
building of Somerset House.
The
Public Medal Award
London Design Biennale 2016 – Utopia by
Design
Albania
– Bliss
Helidon Xhixha
Referencing utopian city planning, Helidon Xhixha's Bliss is a
concentric arrangement of stainless steel columns and benches that are designed
to encourage both self-reflection and solidarity. The mirrored surfaces of the
taller columns create reflections, creating myriad opportunities for
interaction. The circular layout of the benches aims to facilitate democratic
discussion and exchange, demonstrating the need for community and unification
in any ideal city. With reference to the current migration crisis, the core of
the installation bears the engraved outline of Europe's borders, considered by
many refugees as a modern-day utopia.
London Design Biennale 2016 – Utopia by
Design
Dr. Christopher Turner - director
Director
of the Biennale, Dr Christopher Turner, explained how the centrality of the
theme - Utopia by Design - was fundamental to establishing a strong coherence
and curated unity between all participating countries and territories. Design
teams were encouraged to create installations that interrogated the history of
the utopian idea, and engaged with some of the fundamental issues facing
humanity. Their responses celebrated cultural diversity and showed design's
innate power to strike up and inform debate, but also as a catalyst: provoking
real changes by suggesting inspiring or cautionary futures. Together these
visions represent a laboratory of ambitious ideas that might contribute to
making the world a better place. And what other objective is there to good design?
The
Awards
London Design Biennale 2016 – Utopia by
Design
Lebanan – Mezzing In Lebanon
Annabel Karim Kassar RIBA - AKK Architects Ltd.
Situated outside on the River Terrace overlooking the Thames,
Mezzing In Lebanon brought a slice of Beirut street life to the center of
London, celebrating utopia through the everyday designs of the people of
Lebanon.
Lebanon – Mezzing In Lebanon
The installation brought a bustling scene of falafel and coffee
stalls, a small lounge cinema, street signs, carts, and even an authentic
barbershop to Somerset House. As you sat, ate, drank, smoked or talked, you
where be transported to the streets of Beirut. Architect Annabel Karim Kassar
finds glimpses of utopia in the bricolage of Beirut's raw, functional and
authentic urban interventions, and the diverse ways in which people occupy
social space.
“The London Design Biennale celebrates design as an
international language, which everyone can understand. It does not recognize
boundaries or borders. It is always seeking to make the world a better place. All
over the world, nations and cities are increasingly recognizing the power of
design to bring social change and economic growth. They are realizing that
creativity, with design at its heart, can play a vital role in providing
solutions to problems which affect the way people live".
Sir John Sorrell – president
London Design Biennale 2016 – Utopia by
Design
Sir John is
photographed with Dominic Davenport of The National Saturday Club, which offers
young people the unique opportunity to study every Saturday morning at their
local college or university for free.
The
Awards
London Design Biennale 2016 – Utopia by
Design
Russia - Discovering Utopia: Lost
Archives of Soviet Design
Moscow Design Museum - Alexandra
Sankova
Discovering Utopia:
Lost Archives of Soviet Design offered a glimpse into an idealized world
created by Soviet designers that, for the most part, never left the space of
their workshops. In the Soviet Union, designers developed daring projects that
were inspired by 'utopian' visions of the future. The Russian installation,
presented as a rediscovered archive, told the story of the forgotten projects
created at the All-Union Soviet Institute of Technical Aesthetics (VNIITE) and
Soviet Design Studios (SHKB) between the 1960s and 1980s. The institute brought
together designers, sociologists, philosophers, cultural and art historians,
working at the forefront of design theory and research.
The
Jaguar Award
London Design Biennale 2016 – Utopia by
Design
Switzerland - In-between: The Utopia of
the Neutral
Curator Giovanna Lisignoli
Seven Swiss design
studios were partnered with seven specialist industrial manufacturers, each
with niche knowledge of a particular field, for In-between: The Utopia of the Neutral
- a project that reflected upon the cultural identity, design tradition and
exchange of knowledge. It was an interpretation that draws on Switzerland's
traditions of political neutrality and Swiss design history, and has led to
experimental collaborations that demand 'speculation, fluidity and dialogue'.
Against a perception of the neutral as the hidden, static or indifferent, the
project imagined the 'in between' as a fundamental space to probe neutrality as
a catalyst for movement.
Above. Magnify the
Origin - Adrien Rovero – Schott Suisse SA, Yverdon.
Complications
Stephanie Baechler – Meroz Ressorts
S.A. – Chene-Bourg
Switzerland - In-between: The Utopia of
the Neutral
Curator - Giovanna Lisignoli
London Design Biennale 2016 – Utopia by
Design
Turkey – The Wish Machine
Autoban
The Wish Machine by
multi-disciplinary practice Autoban, was a contemporary version of the 'wish
tree' on which people tie notes of hope. Messages fed into the Wish Machine are
carried through a tunnel of transparent pneumatic tubes and around the West
Wing of Somerset House, before being deposited into the unknown, like coins
tossed into the bottom of a well. The gesture of casting a wish into the dark
reflects the profound hope of those among the biggest movement of people in
recorded history, who search for utopian lands with dreams of a better future.
London Design Biennale 2016 – Utopia by
Design
Australia - Plastic Effects
Brodie
Neill
Designer Brodie
Neill's Plastic Effects highlights an ugly problem: the estimated five trillion
plastic items that pollute the world's oceans. Fragmented particles of plastic
–a material once considered utopian in itself – enter the food chain to
devastate marine life of all kinds, and thousands of tons of debris are washed
up on Australia's coastline every year. Neill's installation highlights this
problem by harvesting and recycling marine micro-plastic to produce a
terrazzo-like composite, inlaid as a kaleidoscopic diagram, displayed here in
the Gyro table.
Designer Brodie Neill
Photograph by Ed Reeves - courtesy
London Design Biennale
London Design Biennale 2016 – Utopia by
Design
United Kingdom – Forecast
Edward Barber – Jay Osgerby
Edward Barber and Jay
Osgerby's installation Forecast, in collaboration with the V&A, moves with
the wind, evoking Britain's nautical past and its future use of renewable
energy. Historically, Britain has relied on harnessing the wind for transportation,
migration, trade and exploration. Today it is one of the leaders in wind power
generation. The kinetic sculpture, fabricated by Litestructures with
engineering by Arup and Mott MacDonald, evokes the romantic image of a tall
ship sailing, as well as the opportunity to harness the wind for a sustainable
future for our planet. As Thomas More wrote in Utopia,
" You wouldn't abandon ship in a
storm just because you couldn't control the winds."
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