STARTS Prize for Social Good
On June 30th at OGR Torino were announced the two winners of the first STARTS Prize for Social Good, supported by Fondazione CRT in collaboration with Nesta Italia.
The call received a total of 202 applications from all over Europe, which were evaluated by an independent jury committee composed by: Ghislaine Boddington (Creative Director, Body>Data>Space); Prof. Vittorio Loreto (Director, Sony Science 3Computer Labs Paris); Maria Grazia Mattei (Founder and President, MEET Digital Culture Center); Samuele Piazza (Visual Arts Curator, OGR Torino); Bartolomeo Pietromarchi (Director, MAXXI Museum Rome); Karla Spiluttini (Artist, STARTS Prize PM, Ars Electronica); José Luis de Vicente (Curator, Sònar +D).
The winners
Vanessa Vozzo (Multimedia Artist, Researcher, Professor).
Presented the project “Photosynthetic Me”, a bioart, interactive and immersive installation that emerges from a process-based experiment around the topic of becoming plant-like.
In the project, a biotechnologist activates a photosynthetic system in a situation of altered evolution that can make Vanessa Vozzo self-sufficient for food and energy requirements and, eventually, a producer of energy.
Vanessa Vozzo designed the artwork with the biotechnologist Enzo Guarnieri and with the support of the Molecular Biotechnology Center (University of Turin). With regard to renewable energies, Vanessa has also activated a collaboration with the Politecnico di Torino and she’s building a network in the field of Algal Biotechnology.
Nomad Garden (Multidisciplinary collective based in Sevilla, Spain).
Presented “Jardines en el aire” (Gardens in the air) an urban naturalisation initiative involving artists, designers, scientists, young students and neighbours of Tres Barrios – Amate (Sevilla) together with local communities such as the Asociación Educativa y Social Candelaria (Educational and Social Association).
A proposal that has been maturing through citizen workshops and shared celebrations, with the aim of exploring the resources and species of the neighbourhood, imagining new relationships among them and prototyping devices and architectures that allow new alliances to thrive, generating a more habitable environment for everyone.
