Eco Solidarity 2023

Terratico (Slovakia)

“Designing interconnections” is a project that started in 2018 and is still developing. It shows how the fields of art, science, health and ecology are connected. It consists of several smaller intertwined with each other projects about: pollution as a resources and bioremediation (Biomine project), urban farming where foods are grown as medicine (IKEA project), light therapy (IKEA and Televisor project), bioelectronics (Biodegradable photo-voltaic cells made from food).

Studio Plastique (Belgium)

presenting Common Sands. Studio Plastique is a research and design studio founded in 2017 in Brussels. Its practice is driven by an investigative mindset that critically reflects upon existing systems, structures, and phenomena. It is a holistic approach that is driven by curiosity, resulting in material developments or objects. Common Sands is an ongoing investigation of silicate junk from electronic waste, looking at the extraction, transformation, application and end-of-life of sand and sand-based products. The project forms the basis of multidisciplinary collaborations that offer alternative visions of value and responsibility through design.

FOR (Romania)

Presenting ON WHEELS. There’s a Romanian saying that translates to “everything will run on wheels,” meaning everything is going to be fine. To answer the question on the relevance of design in fostering a sense of normality in dire circumstances, FOR displays a series of upcycled physical objects using the familiar shiny emergency blanket as a core material. Packed in a simple rolling suitcase alongside an online repository of DIY objects that can be accessed through any Internet connection, the series includes items that work both in a lasting crisis situation and in instances of lighthearted normality.

FAINA(Ukraine)

Presenting ZTISTA. FAINA is a multi-disciplinary design brand that creates minimal handcrafted objects to convey cultural heritage, engage senses, and inspire mindful living. ‘Living minimalism’ is FAINA's signature approach: a combination of culture, connection with nature, and minimalism shaped in one design piece. Natural materials such as clay, wood, and wool meet steel and glass. FAINA rejects the functionalism of the object. Handcrafted, the object is alive and endowed with its own soul, with an aesthetic that is turned to the future, respectful of nature and rooted in history.

CollColl (Germany)

Rethinking public space. The design collective CollColl, based in Berlin and Munich, works between architecture, scenography, and art experimenting with urban design, sculpture and performance on construction sites. By including participants with different abilities and knowledge, CollColl aims to open up the design processes to collaborative thinking and participation. Employing simple and sustainable materials, they use process-oriented, improvisational, and explorative methods to activate public spaces, rather than taking the traditional route of executing a pre-set design.

Balance is Motion (Czech Republic)

Presenting The Ruderal project. Award-winning Czech eco-design studio, Balance is Motion seeks to connect design creativity with analytical approach to environmental issues. The Ruderal project points to a parallel between pioneer species that inhabit inhospitable wastelands and gradually transform them into places teeming with diverse life, and people who are thrown into a similar situation by war or natural disaster. They too must show incredible resilience to transform seemingly unlivable areas into environments where new life can take root. The studio’s goal is to support those efforts by creating modular, easy to assemble furniture that can be adapted to the needs of people living in temporary situations.

Neo-futuristic Walks (Lithuania)

Presenting Walkshop. Neo-futuristic Walks combine architectural and speculative design with performative practices to hack dominant city-making methods which often lack the element of imagination. Core of the project is a series of walkable city inspections intended to shape neo-futurist communities. They employ context-sensitive speculative scenarios to prepare for inescapable futures. The New York City Walkshop focuses on the flood threat. By inspecting NYC on foot and creating new climate fictions, attention is drawn to the question how walking and speculative storytelling can unfold new relationships between people and water in urban environments that are at risk of flooding.

Armombiedro Studio (Spain)

Presenting DEMO-LITO. Angel Mombiedro’s creative style is both playful and architectural. Recognizing the significance of leisure in a thriving society, Armombiedro_studio has partnered with a Ukrainian association to work on regenerating public spaces. DEMO-LITO, a puzzle assembled from granite and limestone panels salvaged from a Fifth Avenue building's renovation debris, epitomizes the synergy between gaming, construction, recycling, and collaboration. It also serves as a critique of society's inclination to discard materials that took centuries to form.

FALA (Poland)

Presenting The Zawiszy project FALA is a Polish multidisciplinary design and research practice in 2018. FALA is focused on holistic design in the context of progressive climate change, multi-species design, sensory cognition, education, and action in nature. The Zawiszy project is a design in process: gradually discovering the old structure and making decisions on site to refurbish an apartment in a pre-war building from 1905, located in Gdansk. The project is made with care and in close cooperation with contractors, learning about old techniques in new conditions.

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NEW YORK –ECO Solidarity, a collaborative initiative bringing together leading European designers and studios represented by EUNIC NY, the European Union National Institutes for Culture, returns to New York’s Javits Center May 21-23, 2023, as part of ICFF + WantedDesign Manhattan. Responding to the environmental and humanitarian crises, this year’s edition focuses on design with empathy, addressing some of the world’s most pressing conditions of human health and wellbeing.

Showcasing designers and design studios from nine European countries, ECO Solidarity 2023 includes a design exhibit, two panel discussions, workshops, and more. The goal of ECO Solidarity 2023 is to reexamine the roles of designers and architects, finding more ways to offer vital skills and deliver practical support for individuals and communities affected by environmental disasters, war, and violence. This year’s projects explore ways to improve urban domestic infrastructures, preserve and restore natural habitats, protect the health and wellbeing of people, and accommodate displacement of the most vulnerable members of the community.

The 2023 program is organized around two themes. The first focuses on prevention and research, new sustainable materials and methods of implementation that improve durability, circularity, recycling waste, carbon-neutral and low-emission productions, with the goal of improving human and environmental habitats.

The second focuses on ethical issues that surround design and architecture, reconstruction, recuperation, and healing in response to environmental and humanitarian crises resulting from military conflicts. The emphasis is placed on repositioning architects and designers to address critical issues through community engaged design process via interactive initiatives, city walks and site-specific interventions.

Through sharing research and resources on the newest sustainable design solutions, as well as engaging in participatory actions and interventions, ECO Solidarity 2023 aims to contribute to the re-envisioning of future post-war public spaces, living spaces, and shared environments.

Participating E.U. designers and studios include: Theresa Bastek, Studio Plastique (Wallonie-Bruxelles Region, Belgium), Eliška Novák Knotková, Balance is Motion (Czech Republic), Dorian Cani, COLLCOLL (Germany), Aušra Česnauskytė and Goda Verikaitė, Neo Futuristic Walks (Lithuania), Kamila Szatanowska and Paulina Rogalska, FALA Architektura (Poland), Pepe Peralta Guerrero, FOR (Romania), Otto Nagy, Terratico (Slovakia), Angel Mombiedro, Armombiedro Studio (Spain), with a special guest, Victoria Yakusha, FAINA Design from Ukraine.

Since its founding in 2020, ECO Solidarity is co-curated by Odile Hainaut, Brand director of ICFF and WantedDesign Manhattan, and Izabela Gola, Visual Arts and Design Curator at the Polish Cultural Institute NY. The exhibition is designed and curated by Deborah Wang, architect and artistic director of DesignTO, Toronto. ECO Solidarity 2023 Advisory Committee includes Cynthia E. Smith, Curator of Socially Responsible Design at Cooper-Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum; Jonsara Ruth, co-founder and Design Director, Parsons Healthy Materials Lab; Paul Clemence, photographer, writer and curator exploring the cross-sections of design, art and architecture; and Tomek Rygalik, industrial designer, educator and founder of Studio Rygalik, which promotes a sensible, holistic approach towards design.

ECO Solidarity 2023 is presented in partnership with EUNIC NY, the European Union National Institutes for Culture, including Wallonie-Bruxelles Design Mode, Czech Center New York, Goethe-Institut New York, Consulate General of Lithuania in New York, Lithuanian Culture Institute and the Architecture Fund, Polish Cultural Institute New York, Romanian Cultural Institute New York, Consulate General of Slovak Republic in New York, Consulate General of Spain New York, Consulate General of Portugal New York, and the European Union Delegation to the United Nations. ECO Solidarity had been fueled for two consecutive years by the EUNIC Cluster Grant Award granted by EUNIC Global cultural organization, European Union. This year’s special guest representing war-torn Ukraine, FAINA Design, is invited as an expression of solidarity with Ukrainian nation. FAINA Design participation is supported by EUNIC, Polish Cultural Institute New York, and Adam Mickiewicz Institute in Warsaw, Poland.

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