THE UNITY ISSUE
THE UNITY ISSUE
Summed up extremely well by our Cover Artist Hedy Tjin,'Unity is about taking care of each other, trusting each other, melting together as one humanity to combine forces.' A poignant thought that we can very much apply to all aspects of life, whether that be on a personal or professional level.
With our UNITY Issue, we look at different facets of the word – whether that be a worldwide unity through creativity, a way to bring together divided countries, a call for unity to irradiate slavery, the union of professions to enhance plant growth, or a nationwide message of inclusivity – the need for collaboration and togetherness has never been more prominent.
BREAK THE MOULD
Spreading positivity through creativity.
Last year, the United Nations put out a global open call to creatives to help stop the spread of COVID-19. All of these creative responses have now been compiled in a library of artwork that aims to educate, uplift, and inspire. In support of this, WePresent has selected their favourite entries from the UN’s top 1000 artworks and, in the spirit of spreading positivity, asked each artist what makes them really, really happy.
Image credits: 'Looking after each other behind closed doors' by Sophie Holt
EYE OF THE BEHOLDER
Designed to keep people apart but brought them together.
Allowing children from both sides of the US-Mexico border to play together on pink seesaws, the Teeter Totter Wall by Rael San Fratello and Colectivo Chopeke has won the 2020 Beazley Design of the Year award, run by London's Design Museum. Tim Marlow, chief executive and director of the Design Museum, said: 'The Teeter-Totter Wall encouraged new ways of human connection. It remains an inventive and poignant reminder of how human beings can transcend the forces that seek to divide us.' The prize was awarded on the the last day of Trump’s presidency.
SHIFTING PERSPECTIVES
A sweet solution to irradiate slavery.
Having worked on the concept for the last year in secrecy, Tony's Chocolonely has developed four new chocolate bars that show clear similarities with four globally known and iconic brands: Twix, Toblerone, Ferrero Rocher and Kitkat. This campaign has a clear message: to once again highlight and expose slavery and child labour in the chocolate industry and calls for action.
SIGHT SEEING
Combining art and science to create a better world.
Part of the artist-in-residence program of Rabobank, GROW consists of a design-based light installation which shines across 20,000m2 of farmland. Developed for two years by Daan Roosegaarde and his team of designers and experts, GROW is a luminous dreamscape of poetic dancing lights that wash like waves over an enormous field. Through the unity of science and art, the technology can enhance plant growth and reduce the use of pesticides by up to 50%.
GROW is a Studio Roosegaarde and MediaMonks collaboration.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Make some room to listen to this talk.
In this episode of the Room to Talk podcast series, created by ADCN Board Member Jelani Isaacs, get to know Gianni Grot and Akwasi of Omroep Zwart. What started as a childhood dream – to start an inclusive broadcaster – is about to come true. But how did they get to this point? Tune in to their discussion and find out more about the name, how such an organisation is structured and how they managed to preserve themselves as artists. This conversation is in Dutch.
FRONTIER
Get to know our cover artist.
‘In my work, I try to create a world where everybody feels represented and welcome.’ – Hedy Tjin
A huge thanks to Hedy Tjin for being our fifth FRONTIER and designing the cover of our UNITY Issue. Alongside a fascination for patterns and textile, Hedy’s interest in the different cultures within the Netherlands is a recurring theme throughout her body of work, heavily influenced by her time spent in her father’s homeland Suriname. Check out our full interview with Hedy below.
We invite all members of the ADCN community to co-create and curate our new Digital Magazine.
If you have seen or made something that we should all learn from, please get in touch!