The Infinite Youth [Search results for future]

The Future of the City
Copyright by smart | Design Leif Podhajsky
smart urban stage is a global online project dealing with the term FUTURE OF THE CITY. We ask pioneers from metropolises around the world to question the urban status quo. the results are visions, ideas and solutions for sustainable lifestyles, modern social systems and forward-looking developments in the fields of architecture, design and technology. the worldwide event series is exhibiting ideas and solutions of forward thinking future makers. the brand behind this online project is the car manufacturer smart, which hosted special events throughout Europe during the last two years.

Now smart initiated the FUTURE OF THE CITY AWARD (with a final voting in January 2012). Within the 2nd round Month Of Design Head of Design at Mercedes-Benz (Stuttgart/Germany) Gordon Wagener was requested to ask 8 designers around the world: In reference to urban mobility, how will design evolve in the upcoming two decades?
One of the contributing designers is Leif Podhajsky – artist and creative director from Melbourne/Australia. His work explores themes of connectedness, the relevance of nature and the psychedelic or altered experience. By utilizing these subjects he attempts to coerce the viewer into a realignment with themselves and their surroundings. Leif creates artwork for a number bands and record labels around the world such as Modular Records, Sony Music, Lykke Li and Tame Impala and has exhibited work in Berlin, the Netherlands, Sydney, and Melbourne.
In the upcoming decades design will play key function in a new era of human existence. One in which humans have attained a higher state of awareness, a realization that we are all connected and a want to exist in a free, supportive and sustainable society. A society that places a high value on imagination, science, music and art as a way to move forward as a species and explore both inner and outer space, a place in which we share knowledge and embrace our differences.
In reference to mobility and the way we engage with our environment, our cities will become a product of a world where the monetary system has failed, as this seems to be the only way forward from a flawed ideology that gives nothing of value back to our society. We are witnessing a taste of this failure in our present day and things will only get worse.
We will need design, technology and ideas to break the syntax of this current model to create cities and environments in which humans well-being and not corporations are placed at the top of the chain. We need to see a rise in renewable energies with mass transit networks built to reflect this, the advent use of bikes and bike lanes, more green areas, communal gardens and parks, more ways to diminish waste and recycle, free widespread access to unregulated internet and localized production are just a few things that hopefully will start to change how we interact and live out our lives in the cities of the future. Leif Podhajsky

All other contestants and their artistic work can be seen here. Now it is your turn to show them which one has done best. Vote for your favourite design work by clicking on the vote button. Voting ends November 28th (6pm CET) ! the two artists with the most votes will take part in the Final Future of the City Award voting in January 2012.
VIA «The Future of the City» by Jane Storm
Smart’s Future of the City Continues
Copyright by smart | Design Aram Dikiciyan
smart urban stage is a global online project dealing with the term FUTURE OF THE CITY. We ask pioneers from metropolises around the world to question the urban status quo. the results are visions, ideas and solutions for sustainable lifestyles, modern social systems and forward-looking developments in the fields of architecture, design and technology. the worldwide event series is exhibiting ideas and solutions of forward thinking future makers. the brand behind this online project is the car manufacturer smart, which hosted special events throughout Europe during the last two years.

Now smart initiated the online project FUTURE OF THE CITY. Within their Q&A series allrounder Marcelo Burlon asked photographer Aram Dikiciyan: How would a city look like without concrete? His answer: A city without concrete is bathed in light.
Burlon: A few years ago I was in the north of Brazil, in a little village called Jericoacoara and then I moved to Praia de Pipa. In this time the streets were made out of sand and all the little houses were out of wood. All was full of trees and the atmosphere during the evening is something really unbelievable. I imagined a city a hundred times bigger than this little village with the same concept. Imagine how the summer will be without all that concrete. How the kids will grow up and the older people will enjoy their last years.
Dikiciyan:Throughout the life over there he found that things are generally rather unpredictable but definitely either interesting to thrilling or surprising to wondrous thus a little predictable then again. He dealt with the inconceivable which allowed him to catch a glimpse of what he called then the futurity of his own: Fragments of what could be or how it could look like. He never knew exactly what it was but it provided an insight into what could have been. So what would he have imagined about tomorrow? Life to consist of dark days and bright nights? Or rather bright days and blinding nights? Reflective surfaces, glowing and pumping? Intermittent pulsating conducting the rhythm of time? Busy veins but orderly? Kindness? Goodness? Awkwardness? Frequent beauty?
Aram Dikiciyan was born in 1974 in West-Berlin. He moved to Tokyo in 2004, where he has been resident ever since. Exhibitions of his work have been held in Tokyo, Berlin and Hong Kong. He has been represented by Berlin Gallery Camera Work since 2008.
FUTURE OF THE CITY
VIA «Smart’s Future of the City Continues» by Jane Storm
Smart’s Future of the City Continues
Copyright by smart | Design Reza Abedini
smart urban stage is a global online project dealing with the term FUTURE OF THE CITY. We ask pioneers from metropolises around the world to question the urban status quo. the results are visions, ideas and solutions for sustainable lifestyles, modern social systems and forward-looking developments in the fields of architecture, design and technology. the worldwide event series is exhibiting ideas and solutions of forward thinking future makers. the brand behind this online project is the car manufacturer smart, which hosted special events throughout Europe during the last two years.

Now smart initiated the online project FUTURE OF THE CITY. Within their Q&A series Dutch alternative fashion, arts and lifestyle magazine BLEND was requested to ask Iranian graphic designer Reza Abedini: In what ways does Western architecture influence Arabic buildings in the future??
BLEND: At BLEND magazine we like to shed light on cultural topics from different point of views. the Arab world is still full of mystique and ›One Thousand and One Nights‹-stereotypes, because it’s often analyzed through a Western point of view. With our Western schemas and concepts we try to understand the East. the result? Predictable answers that fit in our own concepts. Therefore it’s far more interesting to look at the rich Arabic design and architectural-tradition from a non-based point of view. Reza Abedini knows the best of both worlds. He was born in the East and now lives in the West so we think he’s the one who can give us more insight about Arabic design.
ABEDINI: To talk about these influences requires a lot of time and space. But it is important to note that nowadays we all live with Western concepts and systems, and this is a necessity in modern life. Today, most of the endeavors that happen in the world of art and architecture are based on Western methods and approaches, even if their forms may look non-Western. There is a very interesting example in Isfahan, Iran. the Vank Cathedral was built under the influence of the prevailing taste and atmosphere of the Islamic architecture in early 17th century Isfahan. the building is based on the functional requirements of a church, but the form and spaces are totally shaped under the influence of exciting Islamic architecture of the era.
The issue of architecture and traditional art in non-Western cultures is very sophisticated. In these cultures, to draw a line between form and function only leads to a total misunderstanding of their view of art and architecture. Many of the attempts to bridge both cultures were not successful enough. There are a few exotic examples, but they rarely touched the core of the concept. To give you an example: building a mosque in Islamic culture is mostly related to the architect’s beliefs and his attachment to ›truth‹ or ›god‹. In other words, design is not exclusively confined to form, beauty and function, although it does include all of these elements. Therefore, I think the influence of architecture is possible in form and surface, but the concepts and functions in Western architecture are not in accordance with the concept of a mosque.
When you study the historical movements in art and architecture, such as Orientalism, Postmodernism and the more recent Exoticism, they seem superficial. We, both Western and non-Western, need to try to dig beneath the surface, beyond form and function, to understand the foundations of each culture on an equal level. the Western subjective and objective approaches towards other cultures have veiled the true understanding of them.
FUTURE OF THE CITY
VIA «Smart’s Future of the City Continues» by Jane Storm
Via Snella Launches First Jewelry Collection
Copyright by Via Snella
The jewelry collection launched by Via Snella encompasses an array of novel creative possibilities while speaking directly to our heart. Lina Zedig, the inspiring force behind the scenes, has brought her experience in textile installation and interior design into a series of jewels that magically bridge the gap between space, matter and the senses. Lina has created a collection of five precious silver pendants in the form of a flask, destined to carry their owner’s favourite perfume. All of these unique unisex pieces are beautifully elaborated by traditional silversmiths in Sri Lanka and are accompanied by a pipette, which becomes essential at the moment of selecting the right scent to fill them up with. Functional and intimate at the same time, they are meant to embody a unique moment of reengagement with the Self through the alchemic fusion of metal and scent.
This is, beyond doubt, a jewelry statement miles away from the snobbish and indulging-in-blings thrill of the fashion industry. Steeped in a philosophy of sustainability and shared experience, it is conceived and materialised to satisfy our penchant for romance, intimate lyricism and casual immanence. With this new venture, Via Snella pays homage to its original quest for charmful singularity and humble luxury, while designing the departure point of its future trajectory. In the seasons to come, the brand will trade it all for knits and more jewellery. Reinventing the classic collection concept, it will opt for a much more sustainable model of production, based on single garments of an exceptional sartorial quality, made to be cosily worn and joyfully shared by special men and women.
VIA SNELLA
VIA «Via Snella Launches First Jewelry Collection» by Jane Storm

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