Porto Design Biennale 2021 announces Open Call winners

Porto Design Biennale (PDB) revealed the eight projects that were shortlisted in the framework of the Open Call for the parallel programming. Such projects will be part of the satellite programmes, scheduled to happen in June and in July 2021. The call summoned designers, artists, architects, activists, researchers, and other cultural agents to come forward with design themes projects in the framework of the programme "Satélites".

Expect to see the following artwork: “Yugen App”, by Alexander Burenkov, “A Recoletora”, by Alexandre Delmar, “Outras Paisagens: Petit folies sobre o Douro”, by Ana Neiva and João Nuno Gomes, and “Caring Assemblies. Designing for better futures”, by Bartlebooth - Antonio Giráldez, López and Pablo Ibáñez Ferrera.

Other selected projects to integrate the PDB'21 satellite programme are: “Control Wars Laboratorio”, by Grace Turtle; “For the Record: The Politics of Design in Music Video”, by Het Nieuwe Instituut; “Exploratório com impact: design participativo para o habitat dos 99%”, by Inês Alves and Lara Plácido; and “Aqui ficam dragões”, by Luis Galan.

The PDB second edition is held in close partnership with the municipalities of Porto and Matosinhos, and it is organised by the esad-idea, Design and Art Research, the centre for research at ESAD/Escola Superior de Artes e Design. It is scheduled to happen between 2nd June and 25th July, when both host cities of Porto and Matosinhos will be the centre stages of the debate on the motto “Alter-Realities”, and how can society seek for a future where trust is restored.

The team that will develop the visual image of the Biennale is the collective 1234, which includes Irina Pereira, João Castro, Miguel Almeida and Serafim Mendes. The activities plan features games, applications, workshops, talks, guided tours, dinners, installations and performances.

As stated by PDB “the greatest challenge for this new year is to summon society, academia, industry, institutions and cultural agents towards a dynamic debate on the building of a ‘glocalised’ future”.

In September 2019, PBD elected Italy as the invited country; this year, it is time to ‘visit’ France, a country known for its high culture. Also, the curator to this edition is Alastair Fuad-Luke, professor of Design Research at the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, in Bolzano, South Tyrol, Italy.