Giulia Bellinetti wins Marc Cornelissen Brightlands Award 2024

Giulia Bellinetti's Future Materials program is the winner of the Marc Cornelissen Brightlands Award 2024, an annual incentive prize for sustainability pioneers. She wins 35,000 euros to further market her initiative.

Giulia Bellinetti is the project leader of the Future Materials program at the Jan van Eyck Academy in Maastricht. This program collects worldwide knowledge and use of sustainable materials developed by artists and designers. In this way, they want to harness the potential of art, science and technology towards a more sustainable future. Bellinetti: "We are committed to circularity, permanent reuse. Stuff from hair, concrete waste, sawdust, urine, you name it. We've been building for more than three years, it's time for a business model. With the cash prize, we can make a start."

Medicator Stephan Satijn and jury chairman Maurits Groen presented the award Thursday. The jury was full of praise for the Future Materials program. Jury chairman Maurits Groen drew a comparison with the emergence of libraries. "Those changed the world dramatically at the time. Future Materials wants to do that in a digital way by creating a kind of marketplace where people can exchange ideas and materials to make the world more sustainable." In addition to Bellinetti, Man Yong Toh (Aeroborn, Rotterdam) and Billy Kuper (Closist, Maastricht) were also nominated.

The Marc Cornelissen Brightlands Award has been presented every year since 2017. The award honors sustainability pioneer Marc Cornelissen, who died in 2015 during an expedition at the North Pole.