The first edition of Concept Design Festival in Cosenza promotes ecological design in southern Italy, a territory rich in traditions
From September 22 to October 28, 2022, Cosenza is hosting the first edition of Concept Design Festival, a cultural, exhibition, and research event promoted and organized by the RiAgita Scientific Society. Institutions and companies from the sector collaborate in the event to promote contemporary arts, design, architecture, graphic design, illustration and photography.
The common thread of the event is ecology, or rather a philosophy of life that embraces ecology without sacrificing beauty. The Festival’s curators, architects Rosanna Algieri, Domenico De Rito, and G. Pino Scaglione (professor at the University of Trento), have designed an event involving the city of Cosenza, neighboring towns and other southern regions.
Concept Design Festival supports the mee.D Academy – Mediterranean Ethical Ecological Design Academy project. This School of Ecological Design promotes a new educational perspective and a series of events curated by RiAgita, Scientific Society for design culture.
The festival is inspired by Gio Ponti, who said, “Love architecture either because you are Italian or because you are in Italy; it is not a vocation of Italians alone, but it is a vocation of Italians” as well as “Italy was made half by God and half by architects.”
Concept Design Festival was born with the idea of creating in Cosenza “the Salone of another kind of furniture: art, design, architecture, city.” A succession of exhibitions, activities, installations, meetings, routes and guided tours to sanction the centrality of this Calabrian initiative in the regional context and the macro-region of the South, which includes Abruzzo, Molise, Campania, Basilicata, Calabria, Puglia, Sicily.
Discover Materia Design Festival
Concept OUT_Festival: an itinerary through the city
Concept OUT is a cornerstone of the Design Festival; starting next year, 2023, the city’s showrooms, stores, concept stores, craft workshops and galleries will be new exhibition spaces. Different iconic places in the city will host moments of discussion and education, with the protagonists of the creative world and companies from all over Italy as speakers.
Concept Award | Sistema Design Calabria
The Concept Award will be launched at the first edition of the festival. It is a recognition of the value of initiatives that produce innovation in the urban environment, design, communication, and art.
The theme of this edition is Superecologic!
Architects, urban planners, designers, artists, and those who produce, from craftsmen to companies, bricklayers to builders, will have to offer affordable design solutions for greener living, starting from tradition to make it more modern.
“The Salone of another kind of furniture”
Spaces for companies, which will have visibility and contact opportunities. The curators want to enhance the area and companies that are committed to the environment. Therefore, the show focuses on products that are truly eco-friendly, long-lasting and aesthetically appealing.
Exhibitions and seminars
The exhibition in the striking spaces of Palazzo Arnone opened on September 22. The exhibition focuses on classic design and recycled and recyclable materials. On the ground floor of the gallery is “La natura radicale”, an artwork on the female body as an ecological footprint, by Adele Ceraudo; while different spaces on the first floor house works by artists Donatella Pinocci, Flavio Tiberio Petricca, Giulio Telarico, and Raha Vismeh, invited to the exhibition to interpret the theme of the relationship between human beings, environment, and nature.
In the same spaces, the itinerary continues with objects and design products that describe recent history, from modern furniture to the present. This is followed by other installations that foster reflection on the theme of this edition of Concept Design Festival, “Superecologic!” The exhibition is thus an exhibit manifesto on graphics, design, architecture, photography with the participation of Cose Belle Festival, Lanificio Leo, Lina Malfona, Netti Architetti, Aldo Presta, Ovo Design, Studiocharlie, Studio Gum, Kiasmo, Luca Chistè, Marica Greco, Marco Introini.
Lastly, among the participants are companies such as Vitra, Molteni, Egoitaliano, Flos, Nemo, Foscarini, bringing to Cosenza their timeless pieces of “durable design”. There are also Fratelli Cesario, based in Cosenza, with their Ecological House; Viessmann, the Italian-German Energy Comfort giant; selected design from Serafino Mazzei’s showroom and Fiat 500 electric car from Carlomagno dealer, both based in Rende; Casalgrande Padana illustrating antibacterial and self-cleaning ceramics for architectural façades. Architecture, photography, graphics, and illustration enrich the seminars organized in collaboration with the professional associations.
Images are from the exhibition at the Palazzo Arnone Gallery, Cosenza, running until October 28, 2022
Full program available at Meedacademy.eu
