IFLA 75th Anniversary Artistic Landscape Competition: Winner Announced

As part of the celebration of the 75th anniversary of the International Federation of Landscape Architects (IFLA) wanted to cast a light on the landscape of the future.

The aim was to illustrate the concept of landscape, not only from a landscape architectural point of view, but from many other perspectives: cultural, social, scientific and artistic to name just a few. bringing the concept of landscape in all its scale and enormity to a wider audience.

Through the IFLA Artistic Landscape Competition we invited people to imagine their vision of the landscape of the future. The competition was launched under the following motto “Challenges around the world - The landscape of the future. Landscape in 25 years = 100 years of IFLA”.

51 Artists from 27 countries responded to our call and submitted their work, a jury of representatives from all IFLA regions - and so representing all parts of the world - evaluated entries in a two-stage process. This resulted in a group of six finalists, from which emerged a winner.

Read about them below and also find a a link to the competition catalogue which lists all entries.

Statement from the competition organisers

First and foremost we want express our gratitude to each of the participants for their unique contribution to this competition whose purpose was to celebrate through art the 75 years of our IFLA (International Federation of Landscape Architects). The art competition for the 75th anniversary of IFLA was a complete success – within only one month respondents from over 27 countries submitted 51 entries to our call. The works were exhibited in Nairobi, Kenya, and Stockholm, Sweden, in the context of the IFLA World Congress 2023. The exhibitions received great acknowledgement from the large audience including delegates and congress participants. Entries will be notified to participants, showcased on our networks, and presented in a digital catalogue.

For the exhibition works were harmoniously laid out together and printed with relief frames, along with their description. It culminated in a group of six finalists which are presented with the appreciation by our jury composed of representatives from each of the IFLA regions (America, Africa, Asia, Europe and Middle East), and finally the winner who we are proud to announce:

Winner: Master plan - Teresa Malchiodi Albedi and Ilaria Furbetta, Netherlands

Digital creation, Ilustration, QGIS

Winner Text:

Most of the world’s inhabitants live along the coast of the world’s oceans.  It is these bodies of water that connect us all.  In this illuminating work the vast ocean not only teams with life, it teams with an economy that is exacting profound impacts on the flora and fauna of our world.

This is an extraordinary vision of those processes at work.

Masterplan reminds us that the world and its landscapes are interconnected, and that the world’s oceans are a landscape that is as important as the land we are familiar with. An understanding of the complementarity and balance between the two is critical to changes to the global climate and to our survival on earth. Masterplan invites us to interpret a world map that is complex, simple but beautifully illustrated and challenging.

Masterplan presents an innovative, strong concept using the analysis of readily available data to produce a beautiful, multi-layered and textured network of patterns at a global scale.  It illustrates a ‘landscape of the urbanized ocean‘, offering a unique perspective that reminds us that landscape is ‘scaleless’, that it can be local, regional and global. Positioned midway between data-informed reality and subjective understanding, the vision behind Masterplan unveils the planet‘s exponential anthropogenic transformation. It is the ‘globality of Masterplan that offers raises questions on the future challenges faced by landscapes, that is realized in this work’s interpretative approach that focuses on seascapes. 

Jury Comment:

The world’s oceans connect us all. Masterplan illustrates a landscape that is not only teaming with life but also an economy that profoundly affects us all. Masterplan reminds us that the world and its landscapes are interconnect-ed and interdependent. This work illustrates a ‘landscape of the urbanized ocean’, offering perspective of a landscape without scale that can be local, regional and global. Balancing data-informed reality with our own interpretations, Masterplan unveils the planet’s exponential anthropogenic transformation.

Finalist: Just a reminder - Umut Atli, Turkey

Finalist: Silence existence - Xiao Zhang, China

Finalist: Destinys Labyrinth - Hana Achour. Lebanon

Finalist: WEEDSilence: Urban Rewilding - Benni Pong and Ivy Wong, Hong Kong

Finalist: Fremont Fields - Eric Castle, USA

Jury:
America: Richard S. Roark.
Africa: Graham A. Young.
Asia: James Hayter
Europe: Marina Cervera de Medina.
Middle East: Jala Makhzoumi

Participants: Kevin Talma, Hicham Karkouch, Leticia Rebecca, Denerson Jacob, Afrin Islam, Maria Teresa De la Barra Cañas, Laura Vera, Zebin Lee, Wei Lei, Xiao Zhang, Biqing Zhou, Camille Michele, Bertrand Masse, Mariane Lavillonniere, Michael Oldham, Sabrina Wilk, Benni Pomg and Ivy Wong, Neha Apre, Mustofa Kamal, Peter Donegan, Fabrizio Ciappina, Mina Fiore, Francesco Messina, Hana Saad Achour, Monica Pallares, Teresa Malchioli, Albeldi Olatunde, Joseph Oluseyi, Lai Chi, Erylle Jane Bernardo, Aleksandra Zalewska, Miguelangel Troccoli, Oskar Persson, Atina Boonmalerts, Enrico Sansal, Irfan Demirel, Beyza Cavdar, Icim Atli, Leo Chung, Alicia Dorn, Mariana Alavarez, Jose Luis Ayala, Eric Castle, Rodrigo Colimodio, Silvia Mercader Ferri, Gabriel Nass, David Molina, Glenda Yepez, Maria Eugenia Alvarez de Vivas, Umut Atli and Zehra Atalay.

Graphic designer: Emily Morris

Special collaboration: Michael Oldham.  Beverly Hernandez.

Idea: Ana Enriqueta Tejera, Steffi Schüppel and the IFLA 75th Anniversary Working Group

Artistic Landscape Competition Digital Catalogue