An energy generating speed bump and a way of re-purposing junk are among nine shortlisted projects that go forward to the finals of the BE OPEN Awards, which will be presented as part of the BE OPEN think tank’s activities during the 2012 London Design Festival.
“BE OPEN is about ‘intellectual development’, investing in the creation of added value for future generations. Our programmes are about generating original thinking from the most promising young minds of our time”, said Elena Baturina, founder of BE OPEN.
The winners were selected by a prestigious design industry jury, presided over by Patricia Urquiola (designer and architect), with Tom Cheshire (WIRED magazine associate editor), Daniel Charny (independent curator and director of From Now On), Pei-Ru Keh (design editor of Wallpaper magazine), Vladimir Pirojkov (designer), Noma Bar (graphic artist), Christopher Turner (editor of ICON magazine) and William Knight (100% Design event director). A shortlist of nine has been whittled down from over 300 submissions from 47 countries, including Afghanistan, Cuba, Ireland, South Africa, Iran, Uzbekistan, Lebanon and Vietnam. A winner will be selected in each of the three categories of CAST, FORM, and CITY, with the emphasis being on projects that show strong creative thinking, with the potential to become must-have designs for the future.
The shortlisted work is being shown on the BE OPEN stand in the international section of 100% Design (19-22 September) as part of BE OPEN TO THE SOUND OF THE FUTURE, the think tank’s umbrella theme for their presence at the 2012 London Design Festival.
The shortlist is:
CAST
– Alexandra Kharakoz, UK | Sonic Landscape
– Dan Orlovsky, Russia | Moscow — Constructivism
– Eszter Ozsvald, Hungary | SymbiosisO
CITY
– Anna Kulik, Russia | Stone Spray
– Chak Ming Sin, Hong Kong | Evaporative Cooling Capillary
– Chung Wo Chau, Hong Kong | Inflected Massing
FORM
– BernierSamuel, Canada | Project RE_
– Eran Gal-Or, Israel | Poetic Machine – 3d printing porcelain
– Taewan Kim, South Korea | Green Bump
This is the second iteration of the awards scheme that launched in Milan in April 2012. See http://beopenfuture.com/awards/milan-awards. The BE OPEN Awards programme is part of a series of sound related BE OPEN events taking place during the London Design Festival, an element of the think tank’s broader scheme to explore the five traditional senses – sight, smell, taste, touch and sound – the starting point for research into the next realm, that of the sixth sense, or intuition. Sixth sense design would represent the ultimate synthesis of human sensory perception and technological genius, offering an infinite variety of sensations that would overcome the perceived limitations of design today.
London, as the European capital of 20th century avant-garde music, has been chosen to host sound, while the following critical stopping points on BE OPEN’s global roadmap have been identified as centres for research into the other senses: taste in Milan (Milan Design Week 2013), various projects will take place in other key design cities during the year and the circle will be closed in London for the London Design Festival 2013.
BE OPEN’s events at the 2012 London Design Festival events include:
· BE OPEN Sound Portal, an installation in Trafalgar Square where visitors can experience five avant-garde soundscapes over five days
· BE OPEN to the Sound of the Future: ‘Sound Design’ Talk at the Hospital Club, in collaboration with WIRED Consulting, (the bespoke events arm of WIRED UK), Thursday 20 September 18.00-20.00
· BE OPEN Sound Portal lunchtime talk at the V&A, Friday 21 September 13.00-14.00
· BE OPEN SPACE at Tom Dixon’s Dock, 17-22 September www.tomdixon.net/
Please see www.beopenfuture.com for updates.