Admirabel crowned ‘best social design project’ at Vienna Design Week

Admirabel, a mobile betting perfomance that encourages participants to place creative wagers with alternative stakes (excluding money and goods), has been awarded the title of ‘best social design project’ at Vienna Design Week. The installation, run by artist Cosima Terrasse, Andrea Visotschnig (Caritas) and Veronika Hackl (Caritas), is part of Kennisland’s social lab++Kennisland’s social labRead more on Kennisland’s social lab methodology here. Liebes Kreta.

In 2016, Kennisland founded Liebes Kreta in the old Ankerbrotfabrik in Vienna. Together with the initiatives in Objekt 19 (part of the Ankerbrotfabrik) we have collected stories from the neighbourhood and found common themes that connect the citizens living in this area. One of the main issues in the district of the Ankerbrotfabrik and other parts of Vienna is addictive betting culture, fueled by the sports gambling cafés that can be found on every other corner of the Viennese streets.One of the main issues in the district of the Ankerbrotfabrik is addictive betting culture, fueled by the sports gambling cafés that can be found on every other corner of the Viennese streets.The stories sharply illustrated how betting and gambling affects the lives of Kreta-citizens on a daily basis. Together with them, we worked on developing an alternative to the gambling cafés. What came out, after rounds and rounds of testing and prototyping, was Admirabel.

Admirabel

Sports betting goes fast, but Admirabel betting goes slow: snail races determine who will win and who will lose.

Mobile betting performance Admirabel is named after Vienna’s infamous sports gambling cafés Admiral. It engages people to take time to connect with each other’s skills and lives through bets, asking the question: what can I offer my neighbour or a family member that does not require money? And what could they offer me? The art performance puts a twist on the (sometimes toxic) habit of betting and aims at opening doors to different perspectives on (a sometimes not so easy) life.The art performance puts a twist on the sometimes toxic habit of betting and aims at opening doors to different perspectives on a sometimes not so easy life.

Vienna Design Week director Lilli Hollein described Admirabel as “a possibility to work on personal vulnerabilities or achievements in an official setting” and “an ice breaker for Vienna Design Week in having interaction with the neighbourhood and people that would never deliberately visit the Design Week”. Admirabel will continue engaging people with personal bets in different parts of Vienna.