Last August I had a nice and somehow unexpected studio visit by David Mohney, dean of the Curry Stone Design Prize. He sent me some very general questions about me, about my work and about what the price meant to me as one of the finalists of the 2008 edition. It turned out as a random walk through the office space, stumbling around upon fragments of projects and seeds of ideas that someone like me collects and cultivates in a working environment. A very interesting conversation about why I do what I do, trying to answer to very precise questions made by Gilliam Mohney, which, needless to say, I was not quite ready for. Then Ramsey Fendall from Room 5 Films did the rest with some more visual material I have sent him over.

Yeeeeeeeehh!!!

In the course of the Symposium “The Future of the Informal” at the 4th International Rotterdam Architecture Biennale (NAI Rotterdam) the winners of the Squatcity-Urbaninform Competition have been announced.

The winning projects and honorable mentions were selected by the Squatcity-Urbaninform Jury out of 60 entries in the categories: DESIGN (Space, Technology and Material), SOCIO-ECONOMICS (Participation and Empowerment) and POLITICS (Good Urban Governance). The Jury was composed of members of the IABR curatorial team: Tim Rieniets (IABR), Fabienne Hoelzl (IABR), Can Altay (IABR-Refuge), Michelle Provoost (IABR-Makable Society), Georgeen Theodore (IABR-Community), Stephen Cairns (IABR-Reciprocity), Bart Goldhoorn (IABR-Collective) and Rainer Hehl (IABR-Squat).

Memorial to the victims of modernity. [collaboration with Andrea Zausa]

157 is a project for a permanent urban installation conceived as memorial to the victims of modernity. 157 is the number of the workers who died of cancer due to the long exposure of PVC and CVM in the petrochemical factory in Marghera, Venice. 157 aims to represent all the victims of Modernity and recognize the social cost of modernization as historical process. 157 photovoltaic lamps will be installed into the pavement of the city’s square. As a cloud of bright spots, the lights will actually reflect the sky above the city. Such installation can replace most of the traditional lights. They consume only solar energy and do not need to be cabled to the local electricity network since they swich on automatically thanks to an embedded timer.

157 has been nominated as finalist for “Italian Oxigen”, a new design prize lauched by Abitare to promote innovative design in Italy. If you are a keen supporter of the project, please vote for it in this popular jury competition: http://abitare.it/speciale-45-1/antonio-scarponi/ or see Abitare special issue Dec-Gen 2008 (pp. 85-87).

The Curry Stone Design Prize is awarded every year to breakthrough design solutions with the power and potential to improve our lives and the world. The Curry Stone Design Prize recognizes exceptional, emerging design innovations that contribute to the vitality of the world community. These designs may improve the human spirit, increase awareness of the environment, or respond to areas of need in the world, whether to provide shelter and clean water or address climate change and humanitarian crises.

The winner receives an award of $100,000. Up to four other finalists receive $10,000 each. The annual international prize, which comes with no strings attached, recognizes exceptional designers based on the merit of their ideas and the potential to bringing their ideas to fruition. The Curry Stone Design Prize purposely defines design in the broadest possible sense – encompassing architecture, urban planning, product, landscape, graphic, interior, and industrial design – and invites new definitions that defy tradition and break boundaries.

All the finalists will be officially unveiled on Sept. 13, 2008 at the 11th International Venice Architecture Biennale. Press event is scheduled at 10:30am – at the Circolo Ufficiali Marina Militare, next to the entrance to the Arsenale.