Another terra

IN Residence / Design Dialogues
ANOTHER TERRA

Home Away from Home

Barbara Brondi & Marco Rainò
ANOTHER TERRA / Home Away from Home is a collective exhibition presenting a series of original works by the designers invited to the annual workshop, part of the IN Residence / Design Dialogues project, that since 2008 has been held in the unique location of the Du Parc Contemporary Suites in Torino.
After the first two collective exhibits held in Milan and Basel plus a special edition showed at the Biennale Architettura 2012 in Venice, this “4^th Landing - Mission Kortrijk” of ANOTHER TERRA / Home Away from Home exhibition displays eighteen projects created specifically by some of the most interesting and talented designers of the new generation in the international contemporary design scene.

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On December 5th 2011 the NASA ground control crew for Mission Kepler confirmed the existence of a planet orbiting around the “inhabitable zone” of a star similar to the Sun.

Kepler-22b, the name of this planet located outside our solar system, is 600 light years from Earth, its diameter is 2.4 times bigger than the Earth and it can complete an entire orbit of its own “Sun” in 290 days. The average temperature of its surface is approximately 21°C and the general conditions and nature of the planet appear to be favourable for the emergence of life.

The Kepler telescope, which was launched in 2009 for the purpose of seeking out planets similar to Earth outside the solar system, has also identified a series of other “exo-planets” in addition to Kepler-22b, each of which is a “candidate” for being a “twin planet” to the one we live on.

The quest for and eventual discovery of a “Super Earth” – as astronomers call it – may be considered an époque-making event, as well as an extraordinary goal for space research in the world scientific community.

Among all the various issues that this eventuality might cause us to reflect on, some would appear to be crucial matters for our future: what potential scenarios might open up and what solutions might be provided to issues connected with the negative effects of climate changes on the environment, if it does indeed turn out to be a “twin planet” to the Earth? And what alternatives would this offer in connection with natural resources eventually running out here on Earth and any accidental disasters or catastrophes caused by humans beings that might lead to the definitive destruction of our planet?

This issue provides the chance to think specifically about the way in which human beings are related to the objects around them, which they use on an everyday basis, probing into a radically different environmental context from that of our own everyday experience.
If, by choice or by necessity, we had to envisage life on some other planet other than Earth, what kind of “minimal hand luggage” would we take with us on our journey to other galaxies or a different celestial body with acceptable living conditions for mankind? What kind of traits and properties would we expect of the only “accessory” we are allowed to have with us when landing on some New World for the first time?

How, and on what basis, would we select from all the “vital” things we feel to be universally “indispensable”? Would we prefer to have what we consider to be a useful “device” or, in other words, serving some specific function considered to be a priority or would we rather have something of great symbolic value, perhaps also with sentimental connotations?

And, what’s more, what kind of value or ideal should this constructed object actually embody? What kind of message should it convey? What kind of story might it tell?

And, lastly, if the objects surrounding us are, indeed, a substantial and materially significant part of the built environment, partly based on our experience living here on planet Earth, what kind of guidelines should we adopt for creating and as-of-yet uncontaminated habitat on the new planet? What kind of relationship – or balances – do we intend to create between this new natural setting and the artificial objects we employ?

Tomás Alonso

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Tools

Leaving Earth behind for a new planet will be a milestone for the human race; to develop as a species we must take with us our collective memory and knowledge, leaving behind our past mistakes and corruptions. The wealth of tools and understanding we have accrued over thousands of years will help us create a new world, where society appreciates and maintains the material world that surrounds them.

The box contains a selection of hand tools that will allow humans to erect a world of value, creating useful and necessary artifacts that will benefit human kind. Learning the skills necessary to use and care for each tool will restore the connection between making and using; an appreciation of the material world will lead to less ephemera and more value within the new society.

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BCXSY

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Interlacer

Perceiving the unknown interlaces our personal/collective memories, experiences and sensory vocabulary. We use reflections to express the indescribable and to cope with its significations according to our own existence.

The mirror strips on both sides of the Interlacer’s transparent surface produce partial impressions of the user and its surroundings. At the same time of being a metaphor/reminder of ones individual presence it may also function as a personal screen – allowing a gradual exploration of the unfamiliar environment while being less exposed to it.

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Pieke Bergmans

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Luminous Eggs

I will carry with me

The springs of life

Luminous eggs

Of plasma held by gravity

Made on planet Earth

Charged by the sun

Releasing energy

A spectrum

That radiates into outer space

I will travel Light

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Julien Carretero

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In Search of Lost Time

Time, as a measurable value, is a man-made creation set in accordance to earthly factors. Therefore, once away from Earth, eventhough the human need to follow its run remains, it nevertheless looses all significative relevance.

This version of “In Search of Lost Time” by Marcel Proust offers two levels of readability: an obvious one as a literary piece, a time consuming occupation for a long journey and a second one as a relative time marker with no defined context when flipped through.

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Maarten De Ceulaer

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Mutation Series

Transporting the entire human race to another planet will be quite a time-consuming and costly matter. It’s obvious that we won’t be able to take our belongings with us on this journey. We have no idea about the natural resources on this planet, and we don’t want to make the same mistake twice by immediately starting to exhaust them.

My proposal is to investigate in “breedable furniture”, organisms with the perfect qualities for a specific purpose, that can grow organically, and will be cultivated to our specific desires. Like we can manipulate a bonsai tree, we will be able to dictate the shape this organism should grow into.

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FormaFantasma

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Inudox

If the theme of the exhibition ANOTHER TERRA suggests an hypothetical “exodus” of mankind towards another planet, with Inodux we want to propose a different journey that is transformation of the existing more than research of the new.

The vase is designed as if the oil-based area in which we are living, never took place. The excrements of insects that colonize trees (Shellac) are mixed and melted together with Sycamore wood dust: this natural polymer used during the mid of the 19th century to produce small moulded objects and become outdated with the introduction of oil consumption, has been re-evaluated with this project.

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Glithero

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The Moment of Truth

As a space shuttle launches from earth, there is a period of time known as the “moment of truth”. It lasts for two minutes, and describes when the shuttle is most imperil, when every component, each rivet, solder, screw, valve and seal meets it’s calling, or fails. To reach another Terra, there are odds that you must first overcome.

This object burns for The Moment of Truth.

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Pepe Heykoop

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Desire

Living in this world in which we can make nearly anything happen, it is easy to forget about those things in life you really need. Growing markets producing more and more stuff leading to an overload, physically as well as mentally, we have to make many choices, all the time. Sometimes we don’t even know what to choose anymore, as we have become saturated. On the other hand, choices are all that we are made of, all that differentiates us from others, all that separates us from fulfilling our dreams and desire...

When I travel to ANOTHER TERRA, I will bring this mirror: Desire. It reminds me of daydreaming about all the things I want to have or achieve without actually owning or doing them. I would rather long for desire than satisfy it, because once satisfied, there is no point in running after it. Looking into the mirror makes me want to focus on both the word and myself. I start daydreaming again.

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Lanzavecchia+Wai

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One Day in the Life of V.M. on Earth

To ANOTHER TERRA, where her new daily life could be completely different, V.M. will bring with her the memories and nostalgia of the Earth left behind.

Like a mantra, on each woven golden Mylar strip is hand-stamped repeatedly in absolute chronological order, the names of objects encountered, touched, or used in a normal day.

A seemingly mundane fragment of life is then sealed, given permanence.

These words re-materialize the possessions, their related everyday gestures and rituals of a day on Earth that is impossible to repeat ever again.

This quilt is both a private story and an artifact for the future.

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Tomáš Gabzdil Libertiny

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Island of Stress
A burl results from a tree undergoing some form of stress. It may be caused by an injury, virus or fungus. Most burls grow beneath the ground, attached to the roots as a type of malignancy that is generally not discovered until the tree dies or falls over. Such burls sometimes appear as groups of bulbous protrusions connected by a system of rope-like roots, and almost all burl wood is are covered by bark, even if it’s underground. Insects infestation and certain types of mold infestation are the most common causes of this condition.

The suspended vortex object is a negative. It renders the environment healthy, infinite and full of potential.

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Philippe Malouin

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Sundial

Time sets the rhythm of our daily life; the heartbeat to which we rise, eat, work, socialise and sleep. We chose to bring a sundial to ANOTHER TERRA to help us anchor this new rhythm, set by distant suns, to our new existence.

As the suns rise and set, through undiscovered dawns, zeniths and twighlights, the patterns projected across the face of our sundial, both alien and familiar, will see us look to the future whilst remembering our earthly heritage.

The sundial we’ve designed is left blank so that the new organisation of time can noted on its surface.

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Jo Meesters

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Materra
The relationship between humans and plants has always been profoundly important. Plants also offer wide varieties of food for both body and soul. Food is the most primary aspect of plant/human relationships: without their direct or indirect nurture human life would not be possible.

Therefore, if by choice or by necessity, we had to envisage life on some other planet other than Earth, the only luggage or accessory we will take with us to this new world are the seeds of plants that will nurture us for the future.

Captured in a collection of bowls and vessels that is made out of pressed soil and waste material from our “current” habitat, these bowls and vessels will nurture us by simply adding water, reminding us how fruitful and caring our beloved Mother Earth is.

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Minale-Maeda

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Nature Toolbox
In times of big endeavours a reminder of the oldest and most numerous living beings fulfilling a multitude of tasks, like converting solar energy into biomass, control pests, recycle leftovers and produce nutrition while being grossly overlooked.

The immaterial quality makes them symbolic, as if mourning something unloved whose value was found upon loss, but the approach of minute, capillary interventions and the strategies of symbiosis are interesting to translate to an eventual new economy.

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Mischer’Traxler

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Tools - Knowledge - Memory

Starting a life in a different world requires to base all new steps on the expertise from the previous and past. Therefore it is important to be equipped with knowledge, tools and memory.

A collection of objects which are tools and manuals at the same time will be taken to the new planet to give the possibility to use them for survival as well as to reproduce similar objects. Knowledge and instructions partly form the ornaments of the objects and hidden details leave space for private memories.

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Liliana Ovalle

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Looking Pewter

For centuries, mirrors have provided us with an image of ourselves. They have raised our curiosity and questioned our identity. Their nature, deceiving and ambiguous, has given us a tool for self-awareness.

Mirrors as an object can be embodied by different means. Whether it is a pool of water or a polished surface, all that is required is a reflection of the world around us. This reflection, a flat but intriguing duplicate, has captured our attention in many different ways. From divination tools to safety instruments, the value of the mirror is not in the object itself, but in the narratives and practices that are triggered by the illusion they create.

If we were to move to a new unknown home, how would we like to perceive ourselves? How accurate this self-image should be? Amongst the practical and ethical issues that such an event would raise, hopefully there will be room in our luggage for self-invention and subjectivity.

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Raw-Edges Design Studio

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Hand Luggage
Perhaps the first thing the Kepler-22b pioneers would like to do after arriving to this “Super Earth” would be exploring around and discovering the secrets of the new promise land. Here on Earth it took us more than 196,000 years to come up with the best inventions of them all; trolley, the wheeled suitcase…

For this project we would like to treat the given wooden box as part of a ready-made collection of objects which together are assembled into an improvised Hand Luggage suitcase.

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Studio Besau-Marguerre

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Handgepäck

From our most primitive needs to the most progressive transformations, plants have always played a key role in human development: oxygen, food, clothing, color, medicine. Our connection with nature is at the core of civilization, and resulted from this core tools and crafts. On a foreign planet the plant could manifest if there could be a new Garden of Eden. Therefore our traveling container must ensure the preservation of this precious specimen if we want to call another Terra “home”.
In cooperation with Adrien Petrucci

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Anke Weiss

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Common Origin / Common Future
I choose for an idea that must serve as a memento of my origin, my point of departure, and a guideline to my destination in time and space. In my view the knowledge of common heritage and common origin is a binding factor in unknown territory. It serves as comfort and trust and therefore optimism towards a common future.

I designed an abstract representation of the position of Earth and the origin of species as a central point of origin. Form and content of the work will closely relate to the properties of a memento as well as to traditional storytelling of common heritage.

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Authors and Curators

Barbara Brondi & Marco Rainò
Ventura Interieur

BIENNALE INTERIEUR

Buda Factory, second floor - Dam 2A

Kortrijk / Belgium

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Curators’ Assistant

Alessandro Di Benedetto, Silvia Grimaldi
IN Residence staff

Anita Donna Bianco, Francesca Casati and Maria Strachini
Identity and Graphic Design

brh+ / brh.it

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Press Office

Organisation in Design / [e-mail]
Special thanks

Elisa Sighicelli, Ruben Levi

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Supported by

Du Parc Contemporary Suites / residenceduparc.com

Du Parc Oriental SPA / duparcorientalspa.com
IN Residence

is a project promoted by

Associazione culturale IN Residence Design

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IN Residence is a project that contributes to contemporary debate about design, proposing conversation as a privileged means of analysis and further study.

The project promotes design research through a set of closely correlated activities: an annual theme-oriented workshop, talks, exhibitions and a string of publications.

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