NEW YORK (April 24, 2023)
ECO Solidarity, a collaborative initiative bringing together leading European designers and studios represented by EUNIC NY, the European Union National Institutes for Culture, returns to New York’s Javits Center May 21-23, 2023, as part of ICFF + WantedDesign Manhattan. Responding to the environmental and humanitarian crises, this year’s edition focuses on design with empathy, addressing some of the world’s most pressing conditions of human health and wellbeing.
Showcasing designers and design studios from nine European countries, ECO Solidarity 2023 includes a design exhibit, two panel discussions, workshops, and more. The goal of ECO Solidarity 2023 is to reexamine the roles of designers and architects, finding more ways to offer vital skills and deliver practical support for individuals and communities affected by environmental disasters, war, and violence. This year’s projects explore ways to improve urban domestic infrastructures, preserve and restore natural habitats, protect the health and wellbeing of people, and accommodate displacement of the most vulnerable members of the community.
The 2023 program is organized around two themes. The first focuses on prevention and research, new sustainable materials and methods of implementation that improve durability, circularity, recycling waste, carbon-neutral and low-emission productions, with the goal of improving human and environmental habitats.
The second focuses on ethical issues that surround design and architecture, reconstruction, recuperation, and healingin response to environmental and humanitarian crises resulting from military conflicts. The emphasis is placed on repositioning architects and designers to address critical issues through community engaged design process via interactive initiatives, city walks and site-specific interventions.
Through sharing research and resources on the newest sustainable design solutions, as well as engaging in participatory actions and interventions, ECO Solidarity 2023 aims to contribute to the re-envisioning of future post-war public spaces, living spaces, and shared environments.
“We are proud to bring ECO Solidarity back to WantedDesign Manhattan,” said Odile Hainaut and Claire Pijoulat, Brand Directors for ICFF + WantedDesign Manhattan. “After the great response it received last year, we are confident that the selected nine European studios for 2023 will continue to inspire, educate and create meaningful conversations. The notion of Empathy and Solidarity brought by the project’s collaborative approach and the support of nine cultural organizations and EUNIC is critical to developing responses. At the heart of the show, ECO Solidarity delivers a statement of what design can do and how it can serve a greater cause.”
“In a time when we are facing wars around the globe, extreme humanitarian crises and climate emergency, the role of cultural diplomacy is essential to address the needs of the next millennium,” added Izabela Gola, Visual Arts and Design Curator at the Polish Cultural Institute New York, initiator and co-curator of ECO Solidarity. “Echoing the spirit of the Polish Solidarity movement established in 1980, we call for unity among emerging designers, architects and thinkers from different countries to inspire change, to help re-envision the reconstruction of damaged public spaces, creating more resilient and safer human habitats, and protecting natural habitats.”