Bloom for the Designing Women exhibition at NGV

BACKGROUND ‘Bloom,’ by Andrasek and Jose Sanchez, is described as a crowd-sourced garden, urban toy, distributed the social game and collective ‘gardening’ experience. Researched for the "Designing Women" exhibition at NGV new original sculpture/pavilion, it was constructed adapting to the gallery space and demonstrating the ability to build a spatially and aesthetically highly differentiated structure. CONTRIBUTION BLOOM considers a mode of assembly, disassembly and re‐usability that challenges the notions of traditional construction. Seeking the engagement of people for its construction and emergence, it proposes a crowd-sourced approach for assembly by using game mechanics as part of the design of one unit. Bloom has become the genesis of a research agenda that connects Architecture and Gaming culture. The project demonstrates Andrasek’s ongoing research in the generative potential of design systems in relation to the constraints of materials, structure, fabrication and assembly. In the context of the exhibition, it demonstrates the significance of design research, and active links it creates between practice and academia. It also demonstrates the role of science in contemporary design discourse. SIGNIFICANCE Commissioned by NGV for the permanent collection and exhibited within the "Research" section of designing Women exhibition that was extensively covered in the media.