Press Room

Vienna and New York, NY (August 17, 2011)

The Museum of Arts and Design in New York, the Victor J. Papanek Foundation at the University of Applied Arts Vienna, and the Austrian Cultural Forum New York are proud to announce the finalists and winners of this inaugural competition supporting environmentally sustainable and socially responsible design.

Winners of the Victor J. Papanek Social Design Award

• OLPC XO-3 tablet computer: Yves Behar (Fuseproject)
• Green Map System: Wendy E. Brawer (Green Map System)
• Urbaneering Brooklyn 2110: Ecological City of the Future: Mitchell Joachim (Planetary One + Terreform One)
• Jani Sanitary Pad: Lars Vedeler with Marc Hoogendijk, Sophie Thornander, Karin Lidman, and Kristin Tobiassen 

Competition Finalists

• "See Better to Learn Better": Yves Behar (Fuseproject)
• TYTHEdesign—Mobile Soup Kitchen (MSK): Kristina E. Drury (TYTHEdesign)
• Emergency Ambulance: Margaret Durkan (Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design, Royal College of Art)
• Plant 3 (Algae Community Power Station): EOOS Design
• The Edible Spoon: Anatoliy Omelchenko (Triangle Tree)
• iBamboo Speaker: Anatoliy Omelchenko (Triangle Tree)
• AquaIris: Talia Radford with Juan Sebastian Gomez (TALIAYSEBASTIAN)
• "Planet Earth -Directions for Use": Angie Rattay (Angieneering- Design for Good)
• Sra Pou Vocational School: Hilla Rudanko with Anssi Kankkunen
• Silverphone: Elizabeth S. Schultz with Zane Coffin, Sung Jun Kim, and Jung Min Lee
• Lota de Agua: Yasaman Sheri
• Braille Buddy: Yasaman Sheri
• Flow: Alberto Vasquez 

The Design for the Real World Redux international design competition was created to honor Victor J. Papanek, the acclaimed Austrian-born, American-trained designer and educator whose 1971 book "Design for the Real World" was one of the first to promote ecologically and socially responsible design. The competition solicited entries from established, emerging, and student designers of projects that upheld Papanek's vision of environmental and/or social responsibility.

Submissions were solicited in two categories: "Designed Objects" and "Social and/or Ecological Infrastructures and Design Concepts." A total of 92 submissions were received from 20 countries, including Argentina, Australia, Austria, Canada, China, Costa Rica, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Indonesia, Israel, Netherlands, Norway, Slovenia, South Africa, Taiwan, United Kingdom, and the United States.

From these submissions the jury selected 17 projects—4 winners of the Victor J. Papanek Social Design Award and 13 finalists—which will be exhibited in Vienna at the University of Applied Arts Vienna (November 10, 2011–January 31, 2012), and in New York at the Museum of Arts and Design, and/or the Austrian Cultural Forum New York (March 6–June 17, 2012). A fully-illustrated catalogue will be produced to accompany the exhibition.

"By definition, a social design award commemorating the ideas of Victor J. Papanek must represent a broad spectrum, in order to show that design for the real world of the 21st century has to serve widely diverging needs and approaches," says Gerald Bast, President University of Applied Arts Vienna. "As we received a great variety of projects, which all more or less followed a specific path, on this occasion the Victor J. Papanek Social Design Award will be presented to four different projects. With this decision, the jury also wished to send out a signal to future applicants concerning the expansive and visionary profile of the award."

The 2011 Design for the Real World Redux competition was judged by an international panel that included representatives of the sponsoring institutions and leading experts in the field: Gerald Bast (President, University of Applied Arts Vienna), Allan Chochinov (Partner, Editor-in-Chief, Core77), Alison J. Clarke (Professor, Design History and Theory/Research Director Victor J. Papanek Foundation, University of Applied Arts Vienna), Holly Hotchner (Director, Museum of Arts and Design), Ronald Labaco (Curator, Museum of Arts and Design), David McFadden (Chief Curator, Museum of Arts and Design), Katarina Posch (Associate Professor, History of Art and Design, Pratt Institute), Fiona Raby (Principal, Dunne and Raby), Stefan Sagmeister (Principal, Sagmeister Inc.), Andreas Stadler (Director, Austrian Cultural Forum New York), and John Thackara (Founder and Director, Doors of Perception). These dedicated jury members spent weeks previewing entries online, and were involved in many long discussions about the submissions. After a review of all the entries and long debate they were able to come to a final decision.

"The Museum of Arts and Design has always been committed to discovering and supporting new and established talent," says David Revere McFadden, Chief Curator. "Working in partnership with the University of Applied Arts and the Austrian Cultural Forum this competition allowed us to reach out to designers worldwide and to underscore our belief in the significance of socially responsible design. We look forward to seeing these projects exhibited in Vienna and New York, with the hope that they will inspire other practitioners to embrace Papanek's challenge."


ABOUT THE VICTOR J. PAPANEK
SOCIAL DESIGN AWARD

The Victor J. Papanek Social Design Award was established to commemorate the acquisition of Papanek's archive and library in 2010 by the Victor J. Papanek Foundation at the University of Applied Arts Vienna. For more information on the Victor J. Papanek Social Design Award and Design for the Real World Redux International Design Competition, please visit us at vjpsocialdesign.madmuseum.org.


ABOUT THE MUSEUM OF ARTS AND DESIGN

The Museum of Arts and Design explores how craftsmanship, art, and design intersect in the visual arts today. The Museum focuses on contemporary creativity and the ways in which artists and designers from around the world transform materials through processes ranging from the handmade to cutting-edge technologies. The Museum's exhibition program explores and illuminates issues and ideas, highlights creativity and craftsmanship, and celebrates the limitless potential of materials and techniques when used by creative and innovative artists. MAD's permanent collection is global in scope and focuses on art, craft, and design from 1950 to the present day. At the center of the Museum's mission is education. The Museum's dynamic new facility features classrooms and studios for master classes, seminars, and workshops for students, families, and adults. Three open artist studios engage visitors in the creative processes of artists at work and enhance the exhibition programs. Lectures, films, performances, and symposia related to the Museum's collection and topical subjects affecting the world of contemporary art, craft, and design are held in a renovated 144-seat auditorium.

ABOUT THE UNIVERSITY OF APPLIED ARTS VIENNA

The University of Applied Arts Vienna is home to more than 1,800 students, many of whom come from other countries both in and outside Europe. The range of courses, which are on offer is unusually diverse and includes architecture, fine arts (painting, graphics, sculpture, photography, ceramics), stage design, design (fashion, graphic design, graphics and advertising, landscape design), industrial design, media design (transmedia arts, digital art), conservation and restoration, pedagogic studies for artistic teaching disciplines, textile design and handicrafts. It is precisely the diversity of these artistic disciplines, which is supplemented by a large number of scientific subjects, that contributes to the special atmosphere that prevails at the "Angewandte." The university sees itself as a place for free artistic and scientific articulation, as a forum for open discussion and a development laboratory for artistic visions, which should fulfill their potential and shape the society of the future. Our claim to be one of the world's best art schools and the retention of this position are indelibly linked to systematic efforts aimed at the permanent further development of our quality standards, the ongoing renewal of creative potential and the uncompromising promulgation of the freedom of the arts and sciences.


ABOUT THE AUSTRIAN CULTURAL FORUM NEW YORK

The Austrian Cultural Forum New York, an agency of the Republic of Austria, is located in an extraordinary architectural landmark building in Manhattan. It is the Cultural Section of the Austrian Consulate General in New York. It offers free admission to all of its events, which are not-for-profit and frequently engages in cultural events with social, charitable and educational context and purpose, in cooperation with Austrian and Austrian-based artists. It is a cultural, academic, and intellectual meeting place for Austrians, Americans, and citizens from all over the world.