Pure Gold. Upcycled! Upgraded!

Exhibition at the Disseny Hub, Barcelona

This international exhibition project presents 76 objects by a new global generation of designers who think ecologically and act ethically and sustainably. Their solution approaches address a grave, global problem of the present-day: waste and its processing. Pictures of the oceans choked with garbage or gigantic rubbish tips in remote regions of our planet are ubiquitous. In spite of the disastrous consequences for the global ecosystem, how waste is treated is only changing very slowly.

Upcycling – the transforming of by-products, waste materials, useless, or unwanted products into new materials or products of high quality – enhances awareness of alternative production methods and contemporary developments in design in Europe and elsewhere. The design objects utilize primary materials that are ostensibly inferior, combine very different objects in an unconventional way, or process unwanted by-products creatively.

The touring exhibition is complemented by the digital platform pure-gold.org where the exhibition can network with the local design scenes at the locations where the exhibition is shown. Local designers, artists, and students can engage under supervision in hands-on workshops with regionally developed upcycling methods. The results will be integrated in the exhibition on site and will be available as "upcycable videos" online as well as on show in the exhibition.

In conjunction with the Goethe-Institut Barcelona with the support of the Disseny Hub Barcelona.