Project Arting – Industrial Design and Sustainable Design Competition

 The Industrial Design Competition Project Arting addresses the issue of sustainable design. The experience of previous editions has shown that the topic is becoming more and more current and important.

The concept of "balance" is crucial for diagnosing the causes of destabilization of the modern world. The pursuit of balance, according to scientists, is a basic principle applicable both at the level of quantum and cosmological space. At the level of cells and complex organisms, ecosystems and communities, materialistic and spiritual sciences. Balance between technology and nature, culture and economy, profit and health, need and consumption, information and freedom. Finally, between man and the environment, the creator and the recipient, the designer and the result of his actions. The balance criterion becomes important when making design decisions. Paying attention to the mechanisms influencing the stability of systems and processes will allow them to function better.

Broadly speaking, sustainable design addresses the issues of sustainable development, the popular definition of which is: "at the current level of civilization, sustainable development is possible, i.e. development in which the needs of the present generation can be met without compromising the opportunities of future generations to meet them." Well-known terms that bring this idea closer are the English abbreviations 4R and 3P. The first means: reduce, reuse, recycle, renew (reduse, reuse, recycle, renewable). To the 3P motto about the need to balance three elements: people, planet, profit - a fourth element is added: project.

To expand knowledge on this topic, we invite experts to include their thoughts in articles that we then publish in the magazine and on the competition website. The need for sustainable development seems to be beyond doubt, although the level of public knowledge is still insufficient, as evidenced by the research conducted. Qualitative changes in the consciousness of societies occur only after crossing a certain threshold of changes in individual consciousness. According to this theory, the amount of ideas, inspirations, designers' concepts and recipients' thoughts should result in real changes for the better. The potential of the thought put into the design resonates and awakens the recipient's awareness. From this perspective, competition projects become an inspiration and a trigger for change.

Projekt Arting has the ambition to be not only a competition but also an educational event promoting people and knowledge. We invite sponsors to provide prizes for the best designers, but we also try to make their projects resonate as much as possible. Hence a series of exhibitions and seminars, including: in Bielsko-Biała, Ostrava, Kraków and Katowice. Online exhibition, publications, film. The competition has an international formula and is an element of the Polish-Czech educational campaign in the Beskydy Euroregion financed by the Interreg Poland-Czech Republic 2014-2020 program. This increases the area of ​​influence and the number of contacts, which has a positive effect on the exchange of thoughts and views.

We should also mention history, looking thoughtfully at the time that has passed since the first edition of the competition. It started in 1994, when the transformation of the Polish economy was still fresh, and the then director of Galeria Bielska BWA, later Deputy Mayor of Bielsko-Biała, Zbigniew Michniowski came up with the idea of ​​a design competition "integrating creative and engineering communities for the development of the region...". Today we have many exhibitions, competitions and design festivals in Poland, but back then this Bielsko competition was one of the first announcements of a change in thinking about building a company strategy based on creativity not only in terms of technology, but also the form of the product. The competition was organized by the Bielsko-Biała Commune, on behalf of which Galeria Bielska BWA and the City Promotion Department acted. Six editions were carried out in the years: 1994, 1995, 1996, 2006, 2008, 2010. In 2013, the Industrial Design Competition "Energy Tomorrow" Project Arting  2013 was announced, one of the goals of which was to ensure that the idea of ​​Arting was not forgotten. It was organized by the Bielsko-Biała City Hall and the People-Innovation-Design Foundation, under the patronage of the Mayor of Bielsko-Biała, Jacek Krywult.

Also the current Mayor of Bielsko-Biała - Jarosław Klimaszewski, continuing the traditions of his predecessors, took Project Arting under his patronage. We have also expanded the circle of friends thanks to whom we are able to organize exhibitions and fund prizes. The help of universities is significant, especially the Faculty of Industrial Design of the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow and the Faculty of Design of the Academy of Fine Arts in Katowice.

Jacek Graś
President of the People-Innovations-Design Foundation