Press and News

BE OPEN to Create a Design Institute Ranking That Stretches to the Four Corners of the World

Ekaterina Vekova

BE OPEN, the global philanthropic foundation, is launching a new initiative as part of its education strand, Inside the Academy.

Having researched and released a ranking of secondary education across Europe (September 2013), the foundation is now undertaking a global survey to compare offerings at design institutes worldwide, as part of its ongoing commitment to creative education.

“The report will become an essential tool for design students”, says Roberto Zancan, Professor of History and Theory of Environmental Design and curator of Inside the Academy. “In recent years, we have seen a proliferation of experimental and new approaches to teaching design, architecture and art, both inside and outside of traditional academic institutions. Our ranking will help students discover these ‘alternative’ courses and choose the learning environment that works best for them.”

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BE OPEN Announces a New Project for 2014/15: Finding a Place for Traditional Skills in the Future

Ekaterina Vekova

BE OPEN, the global philanthropic foundation, today announced their plans for a worldwide project that looks at the handmade and how to ensure its survival in the future.

The foundation’s mission to seek out and platform creative talent is underpinned by robust business thinking: craft and craftsmanship need a re-brand, a holistic marketing concept that will give them global appeal.

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Sound Art and Noisy Hand Dryers Get Equal Hearing at BE OPEN’s Sounding Space Symposium at Chelsea College of Art

Ekaterina Vekova

6-7 June saw a host of sound aficionados gathering at Chelsea College of Art’s Sounding Space symposium for discussions centred around the BE OPEN Sound Portal.  This event was both a showcase for work produced by UAL students, who have been using the Portal to develop sound art, and marked the culmination of BE OPEN’s year-long exploration into sensory design.

The Portal is a state-of-the-art, ambisonic space, devised by BE OPEN, Arup and the London Design Festival.  UAL students have had an opportunity to explore it in three quite different ways, with the results of their work being played in the Portal during the Symposium.  Pieces ranged from fictional conversation, to the sounds of microphones being dragged along the floor, to rhythmic drumming and singing.

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BE OPEN Reveals Details of Its New Education Initiative to Accompany Young Creatives Through Studies to Career

Ekaterina Vekova

BE OPEN, the social and cultural initiative committed to creativity and innovation, has unveiled its long-term programme to support young creatives and institutes.  An extension of the Foundation’s Inside the Academy programme, which has created a series of independent projects linked to education and awards, this new extended scheme involves a ranking system, Master’s Program Prize and a Young Talent Award.

Academic and journalist Roberto Zancan, who is curating the programme, spoke about the scheme at an international press briefing on 6 June, held at Chelsea College of Art in London.  He was joined by Jay Osgerby of Barber Osgerby and Shay Alkalay of Raw Edges who will be part of the judging panel for the Young Talent Award.  Both spoke with enthusiasm about BE OPEN’s decision to support creative education in such a fundamental way and particularly about the opportunity that the funding supplied by the Young Talent Award would give designers to focus on their work for a full year, a crucial opportunity to develop one’s thinking and test creative ideas.

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BE OPEN Launches the Sounding Space Symposium

Ekaterina Vekova

BE OPEN, the social and cultural initiative committed to creativity and innovation, is continuing its research into the senses by collaborating with UAL on the Sounding Space Symposium in London from 6-7 June.

Sounding Space marks the conclusion of the BE OPEN Sound Portal’s residency at Chelsea College of Art and Design. This state-of-the-art experimental sound space, devised by BE OPEN, Arup and the London Design Festival, was moved to Chelsea after its inaugural week as one of the London Design Festival 2012 landmark events, in the middle of Trafalgar Square.

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London Students Step Into the Future Through the BE OPEN Sound Portal

Ekaterina Vekova

2012 saw the arrival of  BE OPEN Sound Portal, launched September. The matt black cylindrical listening booth stood for a week in one of London’s most noisy locations and transported visitors in Trafalgar Square to a number of imaginary places with soundscapes designed by the likes of Squarepusher, Jana Winderen and Ivan Pavlov. His contribution, for example, sounded like folk music for aliens. Never mind Italian futurism; this was pure futurology.

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What Is Happening to Our Senses and Tastes? BE OPEN Looks Into the Future at Milan Design Week 2013

Ekaterina Vekova

BE OPEN’S second day at the Fuorisalone offered visitors the opportunity to taste the future, with the BE OPEN Talk, a panel discussion moderated by Philippe Daverio on the sensory future and the BE OPEN Food Theatre at the Moroso showroom, a unique food experience.

These events are a part of an extensive programme to research design for the five senses through innovative projects that reach out to the sixth sense, or intuition. The Foundation is committed to developing this concept, finding ways of connecting with people’s intuitive responses through inventive combinations of the sensory and the technological, to create the ultimate in multi-sensory experiences.

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