On June 5, the winners of the Rediseña 08 + MACA contest, organized by Montevideo Shopping Center, were announced. This year, the contest was inspired by the life and work of artist Pablo Atchugarry.
Each participating school had one winning team per category. All participants worked with discarded materials from brands affiliated with Montevideo Shopping to create design and product pieces, giving them a new purpose.
In the audiovisual category, the winning team from Universidad ORT Uruguay of Valentina Aguirre Gontade, Carolina López Vivaldelli, Selenna Costanzo, and Claudio Calbete, all students in the Bachelor of Communication program with a focus on Audiovisual Studies.
In the case of ORT’s Bachelor’s Degree in Fashion Design, the winning team was Camila Fresnedo and Carlota Buysan. Their collection was titled “Perceptual Antagonism.”
Our project is inspired by the tension between our initial reaction upon encountering Atchugarry’s work and the narrative the artist conveys through it. When standing face-to-face with the work, there is a interplay of contrasting sensations, creating a duality between the artist’s message and the viewer’s perception.
The students reflected that there is “a tension between the immense nature of the material” and “the feelings and concepts that Atchugarry conveys through his works.” The artist, they explained, “offers a personal perspective, connected to dreams, ideals, and the future,” which he presents “in a sacred way, evoking a sense of lightness, fragility, and divinity.”
In contrast, the work is constructed from extremely solid and robust materials and is monumental in scale, “making one feel powerless and insignificant in the face of such grandeur.”
“Atchugarry,” explain the fashion students, “creates delicate, fragile, and fluid forms in marble—yet they are also striking.”
The organization Rediseña asked them how they envision the future of fashion: “In the future, we believe that fashion in Uruguay will continue to grow and evolve, increasingly in tandem with sustainable fashion. We will place even greater value on processes such as upcycling, which aim to create a more circular industry. We will also support local production and, in doing so, promote local design.”