CODE – COmpetitions for DEsigners –– and con-fine Art launch “The Wall”, a design competition aiming at a re-interpretation of the concept of “wall”. The initiative, in cooperation with Regione Emilia Romagna, the Municipality of Bologna, the University and the School of Fine Arts in Bologna has a cash prize of € 10,000 + the exhibition. The jury is made of renowned personalities of the design and art international scenario like, among the others, Edoardo Tresoldi, Massimo Iosa Ghini, Franco Purini, and TAMassociati.
>BRIEF
From the Great Wall to Pink Floyd, the wall has always been present in the history of humankind acquiring a symbolic meaning broader than any other architectural element. The wall is an element of division. It marks a boundary and defines a space. It is an expression of the human mind itself.
The latter considers reality as divided into opposites, into abstract and intangible taxonomies that build imaginary walls between different expressions of what is known. Hot/cold, black/white, good/bad: physical or abstract concepts separated by a psychological border that distinguishes one entity from the other.
The wall is an element of break, an impassable limit or a community perimeter. It has influenced painting, science, and literature suggesting and encouraging a cultural production of unequaled fascination and importance. The walls are the canvas of artists like Raphael and Banksy. The walls enhance movies and literature.
The walls, again, marked and still mark extremely painful moments of the international political scenario (from Berlin to Mexico). For these reasons, the wall will be the protagonist of “The Wall”, the next exhibition of con-fine Art, a cutting-edge publishing house in the organization of high-cultural profile international exhibitions. Con-fine Art has already been the curator of “Dalì Experience” and the current “Bologna Experience”. With 100.000 visitors, both exhibitions successfully inaugurated a new concept of exhibition: an exhibition closer to the users, an exhibition that offers an immersive experience of the work of art.
Through the exhibition of works of art by artists like Gianbattista Piranesi, Arnaldo Pomodoro, Hitomi Sato, The Wall will tell and delve into the role of the wall in history, analyzing the meanings, connotations and tangible and abstract aspects that created the imagination and representativeness of this extremely fascinating element. Consistently with a constantly changing artistic perception, opened to new unexpressed contributions, con-fine Art invites all designers to design a series of installations.
They have to be imagined in the most significant places of Bologna in order to involve the city in the thinking about the wall promoted by the exhibition. “The Wall” gives designers a unique opportunity. With their creative contribution, they can take part in one of the most engaging exhibitions of the contemporary cultural scenario. They will boast a prestigious showcase to exhibit their work. With their ideas, they can also contribute to the international debate regarding the role and the meaning of one of the most inseparable protagonists in the history of humankind: the wall.
>PRIZES
– 1° PRIZE 5.000 € + EXHIBITION
– 2° PRIZE 2.000 € + EXHIBITION
– 3° PRIZE 1.000 € + EXHIBITION
– 4 GOLD MENTIONS 500 €/each + EXHIBITION
– 10 HONORABLE MENTIONS
– 15 FINALISTS