“Young Balkan Designers”: between Milan and Belgrade
The international prestigious exhibition of furniture opened on 12th of April until 17th of April, in Milan, hosting for the first time the works of eleven designers selected under the regional copmetition “Young Balkan Designers”, launched by the Serbian cultural organisation Mikser.
The winners come form Bosnia-Erzegovina, Bulgary, Croatia, Greece and Serbia, and thei works, after having their debut in Milan, will go to the Mikser Festival 2011, that will take place from 24 to 29 may at Belgrade. After that, a european tour of the exchibition will follow in many other capitals of the region such as Sofia, Skopje, Zagreb, Lubiana and Vienna.
Mikser Festival, being one of the most important events of creativity and innovation in entire southeast europe, will host the traditional Ghost Project, the biggest annual regional exchibition of young talented designers; this will ensure one of the most significant sources of visibility for the platform “Young Balkan Designers”.
Ghost Project, apart from the eleven winners of the competition, will award a prize in other fifty artists from different countries: indeed, this will be the first year that Ghost Project will address to industrial and arcithect designers from all over the word and not only from the Balkans.
In the footsteps of this project, broadening the most its boundaries, follows as well the competition “Young Balkan Designers” of 2011 that has expanded its horizons, being transformed from a national competition (known as “Young Serbian Designers”) to a regional event, welcoming Balkans and neighbouring countries: regarding the last edition, more than 15 different countries requested to participate and there had been a 100% increasment in comparison to the last year.
This year competition, addressed at people up to 35 years old, aims at promoting the innovative and ergonomic features in order to be valued the quality of the product, the rationalisation of the product costs and an eco-compatible production process, according to the Misker’s concerns regarding environment and ecology.
Mikser Festival will take place in Belgrade, in the industrial complex on the Danube river, only 700 m from the heart of the city. More than 1000 participants will have the chance to expose their own projects, and it is expected a significant number of visitors, which was being estimated around 40.000 for the year 2010.
Mikser is a non-profit organisation based in Belgrade, consisted of professional and amateurs with interest in creating multidisciplinary and multicultural projects as well as in artistic discussions on contemporary art, design technology for industry, architecture and new media. Apart form exchibition events, Mikser organises conferences, workshops and lectures, combining the intermingling of disciplines with the creativity, intenting to assert a cultural industry in Serbia and the entire Balkan region.
by Anna Marangoni
