Human nature has been talked about often and a lot. Otherwise, it’s more like drawing a line between people and nature. Then nature is something out there that you use as a resource or for recreation. Corona and the climate crisis show that this separation, which was beneficial for humans, was wrong. And it is becoming increasingly clear that a change in consciousness is needed. The Italian architect, urban planner and pioneer of sustainable building Stefano Boeri also sees it that way. “We need to discuss how we can treat nature in a less anthropocentric way,” says Boeri, this year’s “Creative Explorer”. Munich Creative Business Week (MCBW).
The theme of the 13th edition of Germany’s largest design event is: “How to co-create with nature”. And Boeri built a kind of blueprint for this ten years ago in Milan with his Bosco Verticale, a vertical forest. In keeping with this, the public space installation “Turning Point,” which can be seen from May 10th on the meadow next to the Alte Pinakothek, is also a tree. A 45-year-old mountain pine, which the Munich design office Blackspace stages on a rotating pedestal as an “icon” of design. And which is then “carefully transplanted again”. The installation is intended to be a call to “celebrate nature.” And it should also show that we can learn a lot from nature as humans and also as designers.
This idea also runs through many of the more than 180 events taking place across Munich from May 11th to 19th. For example, in the Nature Lab of the Fraunhofer Society, where there will be an exhibition, talks and workshops from May 14th to 16th. Or in the exhibition “Earth Centered Design” by the design faculty at Munich University of Applied Sciences, which is intended to show how you can work co-creatively with the most diverse ways of life. An exhibition at the Handwerk Gallery is about water as a source of inspiration, and a lecture at the Goethe Institute is about “Design for Urban Change”. The AR installation “Arabidopsis Symphony” lets virtual plants grow on the cattle market. And at a pop-up installation on Königsplatz there are “after-work bricks” to take home.
This year’s design walk leads through Haidhausen. And it’s also worth going to the Ruffinihaus at Rindermarkt. Because there is the central information point there with the MCBW hub. You can relax there just like on the website and provide information in the printed magazine about the countless events for which, in addition to the organizer Bayern Design, more than 180 partners are responsible. Environmental associations are only selective among them. Which is a bit of a shame. According to Bayern Design managing director Nadine Vincentini, there was not enough capacity for this. But the focus should be on design as a motor and moderator of change. And as a mediator between people and nature.
MCBW 2024: How to co-create with nature, May 11th to 19th, all information at www.mcbw.de