LABoral Centro de Arte and the Port of Gijon award the second Grant Ciencias del Mar to the Asturian designers Javier de la Cruz and Pelayo Bernardo
This designers have presented a project to design a water drone. Its innovative nature and potential for scientific and artistic use convinced the jury
Science of the Sea
LABoral Centro de Arte y Creación Industrial and the Port of Gijon have awarded the second Production Grant Ciencias del Mar to the Asturian artists Javier de la Cruz and Pelayo Bernardo, who presented a project to design an unmanned autonomous marine vehicle for independent creators. The jury has appreciated the innovative nature of the proposal and its potential applications in art and science. The project develops an open-code tool, available for all users, putting art and design at the service of science.
This call grants a production residency to an art project related with the ocean that implies a creative use of technology.
According to the designers, this is a “global-reach, open and free project to explore the ocean based on respect and solidarity, where anyone can contribute individual knowledge or organise in groups to achieve their own exploration goals”.
The work will be divided in three phases: Exploration, through the development of a unmanned water device or drone to be used by anyone, due to its simplicity, that can be used for navigating, gathering data and physically exploring the ocean globally; Inter-cultural connection, through the creation of an open online platform where participants can access the projects being shared, their results and methodologies; and Dissemination, through an easy-to-use and intuitive mobile app, so that everyone can learn how to use it.
The project by Javier de la Cruz and Pelayo Bernardo works with additive manufacturing, prefab low-cost components, as well as the use of simple tools and environmentally-friendly materials.
The maximum duration of this residency is six weeks, during which the designers will be provided with a work space. This grant is funded with €2.800 to cover fees, production, travel and accommodation. Moreover, the artists will have access to LABoral's technical and human resources, including mounting and dismantling.
Javier de la Cruz and Pelayo Bernardo have been outstanding students of the Escuela Superior de Arte del Principado de Asturias, in the degree of Product Design. Their passion for the artistic knowledge and their humanistic nature have been key in their development. They are both completing the Master Programme on Industrial Design at the University of Oviedo, a degree focusing on the anthropocentric and methodological vision of the culture of a project that is the departing point of their independent work. They work in the design of products in the field of desktop publishing, as well as for some firms, always using digital fabrication to greater or lesser extent.
Now, after several freelance collaboration in the field of product design, as well as graphic, web or space design, Javier and Pelayo try to bring in a fresh and technological vision on the permanent relationship of people with their environment, getting away from recurrent aesthetics and exploring the technological frontiers with the purpose of creating original products, that are also useful for society.
