By Arte Laguna Prize - Art Exhibition
Arte Laguna Prize
Design and Art: united by an inextricable common thread, divided by fleeting borders. The section dedicated to Design was launched in 2018 to promote and enhance creativity applied to the furniture sector.
Michael Beitz - Rest
In his work, Michael Beitz uses the complex relationship between aesthetics and functionality to emphasize the psychological spaces between people. It is often personal and has been an emotional pursuit. He performs simple formal alterations: an elongated, arched table; a sofa tied in a knot; a picnic table that appears to crash at high speed into a wall. All imply a sense of function as furniture objects, straddling the line between contemporary sculpture and functional furniture. His sense of craftsmanship is mostly erased in the process of giving the work an aesthetic that is common and blandly referencing mass produced furniture objects, yet they require high attention to detail.
Rest - detail 1 (2019) by Michael BeitzArte Laguna Prize - Art Exhibition
The work addresses not only interpersonal relationships, but also the social and utilitarian functions of everyday spaces and how we react when our expectations of these relationships are altered, broken, or prevented.
Rest - detail 2 (2019) by Michael BeitzArte Laguna Prize - Art Exhibition
Rest is an adaptation of a standard park bench, but the ends of the wood bench are formed to create a very comfortable head-rest. The design is a response to the growing influence of hostile architecture and design that is increasingly restricting the notion of any public space.
Frankenstein's Bride (2013) by Primoz JezaArte Laguna Prize - Art Exhibition
Primoz Jeza - Frankenstein’s Bride
Frankenstein’s Bride is a modular versatile working space assembled out of several different colour elements that infuse energy and personality. The integrated electricity socket and iPad rotating stand not only enable connectivity, but also add a little technology glamour. Use it as an office table, kitchen table or a relaxing lounge. You choose the colours to build this Frankenstein’s Bride, so it could be any combination you wish, all black or all white included.
The concept is that each part is from different materials, and colors, and texture. It is possible to move the position of the seat to another place, so the piece is multifunctional.
Nitzotz Saranga - Debug Yourself
Bugs are bound to be the food of the future - but some people find the thought of it to be absolutely repulsive! "DEBUG yourself" is a chocolate bonbonniere that raises a flag about this problem - and deals with the mental and psychological barriers of the western world with all that relates to eating bugs. The predictions about the 2050 food crisis are well known by now, and as for now, bugs are suggested as the best solution for this future issue. Nevertheless, it seems that most of the population still has a problem with just the thought of eating bugs - even if they can’t actually see them (like with cricket flour). "DEBUG yourself" addresses the problem in the form of a chocolate bonbonniere that will help in the process of adjusting to eating bugs.
Debug Yourself - package (2018) by Nitzotz SarangaArte Laguna Prize - Art Exhibition
Every chocolate in the package imitates a different aspect in the experience of eating bugs - texture, feel, taste, appearance etc, based on anthropological as well as personal research. All of the chocolates except for one does not contain actual bugs.
The attached brochure will give you the added information of nutritional values for each bug, and the design of the chocolate shapes as well as the packaging, draws a thin line between the world of chocolate bonbonnieres to the world of bugs and bugs-preserving.
Jiu Ge (2019) by Xiaodong ShiArte Laguna Prize - Art Exhibition
Xiadong Shi - Jiu Ge
The prototype Xiaodong's works mainly originates in ‘Jiu Ge’ by Qu Yuan, one of the greatest ancient poets. His works, full of fairy tales and traditional legends, with the artistic technique of extremely rich romance, express great poet’s Weltschmerz speech full of anger. In my ‘Jiu Ge’, she refines some mythical images from Qu Yuan’s, such as the charming Goddess of the Mountain who cried “hunkering for your presence hurts me deeply” and the protective Goddess Hsiang Fei of River Hsiang who sighed by “Eager expectancy makes my yearning heart ache”. With the artistic technique of rich romance, she, tentatively, reproduces the emotional representation of ancient Chinese classic works in my clothing design. Xuzhou City, where she was born, has long been regarded as the cradle of Chinese Han Culture and the creation of her works ‘Jiu Ge’ is originated from this land. ‘Jiu Ge’, with contemporary mood, borrows loose robe with wide sleeves and long flowing skirts prevailed in the Pre-Qin and Han period, forming the aesthetic image of both looking back Qin and Han dynasties and observing the present.
The cultural implication of ‘Jiu Ge’ intends to reflect a kind of hazy ambiguity of culture, which can be classical and modern, as well as local and international.
Jiu Ge’ borrows loose robe with wide sleeves and long flowing skirts prevailed in the Pre-Qin and Han period, forming the aesthetic image of both Qin and Han dynasties and observing the present.
Martina Taranto - Relativistic Objects
‘Relativistic Objects’ challenges contemporary behaviours and life habits related to the way we conceive and perceive the passing of time. These objects speak to anyone interested in redefining the way we approach and experience our lives, and emphasize the importance of physical interaction.
Artificial light allowed us to stretch our perception of time from a sum of finite instants into an unrealistic continuum. We became immortal, projected towards great life achievements, blind to the fugacity of our existence. We abandoned our circadian rhythm for a digital pace of life.
Our minds understand time in relation to physical experiences. This project translates into a practical exercise, an activity our brain is gradually repressing because excessively relying on digital devices. Missing a sensorial experience of time has affected our ability to fix memories and consequently had an impact on the definition of our self-consciousness.
Relativistic Objects are time visualisers. They don’t exist to measure time but for us to re-learn how to be aware of its passing.
Relativistic Objects - detail 1 (2019) by Martina TarantoArte Laguna Prize - Art Exhibition
The candle in the middle of the plate is characterised by 3 wicks, each corresponding to a magnifying glass of the brass structure. This object interacts with the environment through the sun. The focal point of each lens is aimed at the candle’s wicks, waiting for the sunbeams to intercept them.
Relativistic Objects - detail 2 (2019) by Martina TarantoArte Laguna Prize - Art Exhibition
A horizontally suspended candle, with 2 opposite wicks on both extremities, lighted at the same time, will start oscillating in a rhythmic motion due to the incremental loss of wax from its main body, bringing the entire candle to rotate in a 360° rotation.
