For this encounter gathered and listen to voices of people working on the positive like UNAI BEITIA (Itturbaltza) + ION AREITIO (Mugarrieta Ganadutegia) + IKER IZETA & MAITE ROSSO (Elkano Gaztagune) + NORA & NADIA (Ondarreta) + JUAN RUIZ (Teixidors), tasting their products and others like Malus Mama, Viqui Torres, Ama Brewery and Manin, with the care of ISA SERNA (Abasotas), creating an intimate environment for a get-together with Sagmeister; worries and longing seen from peripheral edges such as the one we work from where people cultivate, cook, design, and make things under the concept of “Town&Country”, a fundamental crossroads between the proposals of these two worlds. A beautiful exploration based on the vision of its drivers and curators: Borja Garmendia, Sancho Rodriguez, Aurora Polo, Angela Zozaya and a special collaboration of Juanjo M. Fuentes and his Moments Festival.
Immediate media such as twitter or hourly news broadcasts create the impression of an out-of-control world, with an imperiled democracy, constant conflict everywhere and a general picture of fatality. But if we observe the evolution of the world from a long-term perspective, almost every aspect related to humanity actually seems to have improved. People suffer less from hunger, less people die in wars and natural catastrophes, more people live in democracies – and live much longer lives – than ever before. 200 years ago, 9 out of 10 people were illiterate and now that number has changed to only 1 out of 10.
Beautiful Numbers consists of a collection of 19th Century paintings intervened by Stefan Sagmeister based on registered numbers on the main areas of human development such as inclusion, war, hunger, homicide, and food distribution. Sagmeister seeks to recover a sense of optimism, observing the world from a long-term perspective. A surprisingly positive vision on many events eroded by today’s media imprinted in NOW IS BETTER (Phaidon), a new book by one of the creative geniuses of recent decades.
