Calling all environmentally focused designers, artists, scientists and solution seekers! Take a happy hour break during NYCxDESIGN and join EcoArt Project at a special Bronx Museum XM Café Happy Hour with founder, Pino Fortunato, for an evening of innovative art, design, resources, networking, and inspiration around the creation of a green economy. Participate in an international exchange with Design Havana - our program in collaboration with the Cuban Artists Fund and Ben Rodriguez-Cubeñas, that is pioneering design collaborations with Cuba. You will also learn how to get involved with EcoArt Database, our online resource developed with the support of The Rockefeller Brothers Fund.
Wednesday, May 17, 2017
5:00 PM
XM Café @ Bronx Museum of the Arts
1040 Grand Concourse
Bronx, New York
About Bronx Museum of the Arts
The Bronx Museum of the Arts is an internationally recognized cultural destination that presents innovative contemporary art exhibitions and education programs and is committed to promoting cross-cultural dialogues for diverse audiences. Since its founding in 1971, the Museum has played a vital role in the Bronx by helping to make art accessible to the entire community and connecting with local schools, artists, teens, and families through its robust education initiatives and public programs. In celebration of its 40th anniversary, the Museum implemented a universal free admission policy, supporting its mission to make arts experiences available to all audiences.
About XM Café
Located on the main floor of the Museum, the XM Café is a perfect place to have a quick lunch or a relaxing cappuccino before attending a public program or after visiting the Museum galleries. The XM Café comfortably seats over twenty guests in a light-filled, contemporary setting. The Café also serves as a venue for performances, presentations and other special events. The Museum is proud to partner on the café with Fountain House who engages locally sourced vendors and hires local Bronx residents through their nationally recognized employment program.
About NYCxDESIGN
Hosted in New York City, NYCxDESIGN brings together all the disciplines of design, commerce, culture, education, and entertainment with a full, varied program, including exhibitions, installations, trade shows, talks, launches and open studios. 2016, the fourth year of the celebration, featured over 500 events across the 5 Boroughs of New York City and included topics from graphic design to architecture, technology and urban design to fashion and product design, interiors to landscape, furniture to design thinking, and more. Click here to view a recap of NYCxDESIGN 2016.
Design Havana is a program of EcoArt Project aimed at establishing collaborations with designers and design industry stakeholders in Cuba. The program is co-produced with the Cuban Artists Fund and Art For Promotion. Through this initiative, we aim to promote the potential of a “green” economy in a nation currently standing on the cusp of expanding industrialization, besides discovering new talent in Cuba and pioneering international cultural exchanges as well as technological and eco-sustainable development know-how.
In May 2016, within the program of the first Design Biennial of Havana (BDHabana, May 14-20, 2016) we presented a workshop at the ISDi - Istituto Superior de Disêno Industrial in Havana, and launched the Design Havana Competition, the first eco-sustainable furniture and lighting design competition in Cuba, in collaboration with ONDi - Oficina National de Disêno (the Cuban national bureau of design) and Proyecto Espacios + LAB 26, and with the endorsement of the Italian Embassy in Cuba.
Cuba-based designers and architects (students, emerging and established professionals) were invited to submit their best eco-friendly furniture and lighting design proposals, for residential, hospitality and commercial use for the “green” marketplace.
A total of 37 projects were submitted to the competition that closed on February 28, 2017. All projects are now published on the EcoArt Database. Five finalists received an award of $1,000 USD each and their prototypes were a part of the Design Havana Exhibition which was inaugurated on Wednesday, May 10, 2017 at 6 p.m. at LAB 26 (located at Calle 26 No. 255 between 19 and 21, Vedado, La Habana, during the XIV Cuba Design Week. The winner of the Design Havana Prize was announced at the opening of the exhibition and invited to participate in a fully-subsidized and personalized design-residency program in Italy. This award represents an unparalleled opportunity for cultural exchange and learning of best practices in design and eco-sustainability.
Submissions were evaluated online by a jury composed of experts in the fields of interior and furniture design and production, style, media, architecture, communication and eco-sustainability. The panel included: architect and designer David Rockwell, Founder and President of Rockwell Group, a global architecture and design firm; Carlo Ducci, Features Director, Vogue Italia and Casa Vogue, Condé Nast publications; Gisela Herrero Garcia, Chief of ONDi; Ilene Shaw, Principal of Shaw&Co. Productions, a leading NYC-based design marketing agency; Brent Sikkema, Founder of Sikkema Jenkins & Co., a contemporary art gallery in Chelsea NYC; Vilma Bartolomè, Co-Founder of Proyecto Espacios and LaB26 in Havana; Giulio Vinaccia, Italian design consultant and Founder of Vinaccia Integral Design; Pino Fortunato, Founder and Executive Director of EcoArt Project.