Torino (Italy) – As part of the Torino 2008 World Design Capital events, the exhibition Torino Geodesign opens to the public on Saturday May 24: the story of a process of dialogue between citizens, designers and companies in 48 projects dedicated to Torino and its inhabitants.
A project and competition, Torino Geodesign is first and foremost an idea which defines an extraordinarily large and productive field of action: self-determined design, produced in limited series by communities inside huge globalised metropolises.
This is the first attempt to weave together the three great spheres of needs, creativity and production around the creation of a group of new complex tools.
Through lengthy monitoring and consultation, 48 groups of people were identified in Torino, each with a specific need.
The project Torino Geodesign revolves around the collaboration between 40 communities in the area and a similar number of international designers and Italian companies.
Focusing attention on people instead of objects, Torino Geodesign aims to trigger off new forms of business enterprise in various local communities by setting up an intricate network of relations in which there is a blurring of the distinctions between customers and users, manufacturers and beneficiaries of design. In a dynamic system, a far cry from the idea of free aid or support, the designer becomes the catalyst of all kinds of experiments and reactions deriving from new forms of interaction.
The challenge behind this complex mechanism, where the traditional division of roles between the commissioning client, the designer and the consumer are tested, subverted and recomposed, is of an obviously political and social nature. The project aims in fact to seek out new energy for the world of design and new models for the relationship between city dwellers and city administration based on activating collective energy.
The result of this work, begun over a year ago, converges in the exhibition “Torino Geodesign. Design as the driver of a world city” opens Torino at the Palafuksas, in Piazza della Repubblica 25.
The exhibition will be open until 13 June.
Sunday – Wednesday: 10 am – 7 pm
Thursday – Saturday: 10 am – 11 pm
Entry free
For more information, visit the Torino 2008 World Design Capital website.
