WantedDesign Spotlights Sustainable Design with the ECO Solidarity Online Exhibit, on View June 15–August 15, 2021 at new virtual venue wanteddesign.online
“It is really time to think of environmental protection and social justice together within the framework of an international eco-solidarity initiative and to see design as one link for this.” Martina Fineder, Professor of Design Theory and Design Research at the University of Wuppertal (Germany)
After a successful launch in May at the CLOSEUP virtual trade event, presented by the International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF) and WantedDesign Manhattan, the 2021 edition of ECO Solidarity continues with a robust, more in-depth online exhibit, with the addition of more European design studios exploring sustainability and thought-provoking content from international field experts. ECO Solidarity Online Exhibit presents the work of European studios truly committed to using design as a tool of change: From Linen Lab, the research project by Brussels based Studio Plastique around Linseeds, linseed oil, and byproducts, exploring innovative ways to apply them to the Bucharest based studio Atelier Ad Hoc, focusing on the mutations in public space, living conditions, land use, and property, manifested in the everyday city that has an impact on well-being.
“We built this exhibition as a choir: we brought together the voices and the expertise of European thinkers and designers, and we composed a bigger, and hopefully more powerful, design story that unfolds and follows the main ECO Solidarity principles,” explain WantedDesign co-founders Odile Hainaut and Claire Pijoulat.
“ECO Solidarity is an initiative rooted in environmental and societal issues. It is a celebration of how design can be brought down to earth and be contextualized to meet the demands of the present world, whilst at the same time remain committed to human consumption. The COVID-19 pandemic has been a wake-up call and if anything, has asserted the global call to respond and adapt to such crucial issues.” Comments Jevon Vella, Deputy Director, MCAST Institute for the Creative Arts
ECO Solidarity as an overall project was initiated in 2020 by the Polish Cultural Institute New York and Studio Rygalik, in collaboration with WantedDesign. ECO Solidarity is a multidisciplinary hybrid project, an initiative and a movement which seeks unity and solidarity through design and architecture focused on ecology, climate change, the key concepts of the Green New Deal, sustainability, public well-being, public health and their social implications in public spaces, facing new pandemic challenges in COVID-19 era.
This year’s edition is produced and presented in partnership with the European Union National Institutes for Culture (EUNIC) and eight of its organization members.
The ECO Solidarity exhibit, on view at wanteddesign.online from June 15 to August 15, invites the visitors to discover more about the projects and studios who are all driven by the notions of designing for a better world and for the others, with empathy and a responsible approach.
For the online exhibit, 4 studios were added to the initial selection, as well as insightful comments and different perspectives on the ECO Solidarity principles from the Advisory Committee, composed by field experts, invited by each organization.
ECO Solidarity Participants + Nominating EUNIC Member:
1. AHA objects, Arts Council Malta in New York
2. EOOS NEXT, Austrian Cultural Forum New York
3. Livable, Delegation of the Government of Flanders to the USA
4. Algaeing, Goethe-Institut New York
5. NAS-DRA, Polish Cultural Institute New York
6. Atelier Ad Hoc, Romanian Cultural Institute
7. Herrmann & Coufal, Czech Center New York
8. Studio Plastique, Wallonie-Bruxelles International New York
9. Namahn, Delegation of the Government of Flanders to the USA
10. MOYA, Goethe-Institut New York
11. Brokis, Czech Center New York
12. Circula by Studio Rygalik, Polish Cultural Institute New York
“We are proud to present ECO Solidarity on our new wanteddesign.online venue and we hope this exhibit will find echoes in the US and initiate future collaborations to grow the ECO Solidarity movement across the globe. And most of all, we hope it will contribute to raising awareness of the emergency to change the way we design, produce and consume in a sustainable and more equal way,” note WantedDesign co-founders Odile Hainaut and Claire Pijoulat.
Credit: Algaeing
About WantedDesign Online
WantedDesign Online is a new to-go venue for inspiration. WantedDesign Online presents a series of digital exhibitions featuring great design from around the world, from emerging talents to international brands. WantedDesign Online launched May 2021 with the WantedDesign Online International Schools Show (through June 12th), followed by the ECO Solidarity online exhibit from June 15 to August 15, 2021. Upcoming exhibitions also include in the Fall an exhibition presented with the Swiss Consulate in New York and Swissnex, curated by Matylda Krzykowski. wanteddesign.online
About EUNIC Global
EUNIC – European Union National Institutes for Culture – is the European network of organizations engaging in cultural relations. Together with our partners, we bring to life European cultural collaboration in more than 90 countries worldwide with a network of over 120 clusters, drawing on the broad experience of our members from all EU Member States and associate countries. EUNIC advocates a prominent role of culture in international relations and is a strategic partner of the EU, actively involved in the further definition of European cultural policy. EUNIC is a platform for knowledge sharing and for capacity building amongst its members and partners. eunicglobal.eu/