During the 8th. edition of the Ibero–American Design Biennial in Madrid, the founding members of the BID, in collaboration with an exceptional production team, carried out an exhibition that highlighted 44 projects representing the 22 Ibero–American countries. Under the title Iberoamérica Diseña, this exhibition was carefully curated, with each team member selecting two projects from their respective country.

In the case of Venezuela, the selection was made in collaboration with Álvaro Sotillo and Jaime Cruz. Each of the selected projects was accompanied by a deep reflection on the striking idea of Ibero–American design.

The 4th edition of the online exhibition NoMATERIA features 28 products crafted by Venezuelans both within the country and abroad. This curated selection serves as a means of promoting, disseminating, and contemplating industrial design in Venezuela. The Catalog, available in both Spanish and English, emphasizes that this collection of objects does not seek to define Venezuelan identity, nor does it attempt to establish a specific Venezuelan design profile. Instead, it focuses on showcasing objects and products designed and/or produced by Venezuelans, regardless of their location. In this edition, the NoMATERIA Seal was introduced to highlight the featured designs.

Curarated by: Ignacio Urbina
Foreword: Alberto Sato Kotani
Graphic Design: Claudia Mauro
Text review: Gabriela Caraballo
Text translation: Daniel Esparza
Collaborators: Jorge Andrés Castillo, Rodrigo Marin Briceño, Rodolfo Agrella, Antonio J. García, Sergio Alonso, Jaime Cruz and Humberto Valdivieso

The itinerant exhibition of the Ibero–American Design Biennial in Caracas was inaugurated on July 7, 2019 in the spaces of the Parque Cultural Hacienda la Trinidad . With the support of the Cultural Office of the Embassy of Spain in Venezuela and the Fundación DIMAD in Spain. The BID_ve2019 presented the Awards and Mentions of the BID18 and 46 projects with the participation of Venezuelan designers in the 2014, 2016 and 2018 editions of the BID.

Coordination: Silvia Fuentes / Hacienda la Trinidad
Curated by: Ignacio Urbina
Exhibition design: Álvaro Sotillo
Graphics: Ariel Pintos
Exhibition montage: En3Artes

In November 2018 we presented in Madrid the sixth edition of the Ibero–American Design Biennial (Bienal Iberoamericana de Diseño) BID18. An effort of promotion, visibility, and reflection on the design of the region. More than 400 projects, selected by an International Jury, from 22 countries were part of this exhibition.

From its inception in 2007 until 2023, I was a member of the Advisory Committee of the BID – Ibero–American Design Biennial, responsible for representing Venezuela and contributing to other activities related to the Biennial.

This project is an initiative that capitalizes the work of designers in the design and development of products. A panorama of the fundamental areas where the design operates, arranged here to produce a dialogue between those more experimental and academic exercises, and the projects directly connected with the industrial sector. 

NoMATERIA 2012–2017 / Build the Future. Industrial Design In Venezuela was the 3rd. edition and was curated, produced, published online on di-conexiones in 2017 and displayed in 2018 at Pratt Institute in NYC. In NoMATERIA 2012–2017 there are 50 projects involving 74 Venezuelans, residing in 24 cities in 11 different countries. Download here the Catalog of the exhibition (en/es).

Pratt Institute / Industrial Design Department. Alongside Prof. S. Vandervoort, Prof. E. Beke, other ID faculty, and a team of Visual Communication students, we coordinated and organized the exhibition for NASAD and Middle State NYC as part of the national accreditation process for the industrial design programs.

The exhibition showcased the work of undergraduate, graduate, and GID – Global Innovation Design program students.

We showcased two editions of NoMATERIA (2011–2012) at the Carlos Cruz-Diez Museum in Caracas, Venezuela. This exhibition highlighted 50 innovative projects by Venezuelan designers, representing the diversity and creativity of the country’s design community.

The event utilized the museum’s spaces, a cultural institution renowned for fostering discussions around design and photography. It provided a platform for exploring the intersections of creativity, culture, and innovation within Venezuela’s design landscape.

In 2005 the Estancia Art Center in Caracas was inaugurated, an initiative of the national company Petróleos de Venezuela – Pdvsa to promote design and photography. The center opened with a national industrial design exhibition: Detrás de las Cosas: El Diseño Industrial en Venezuela, curated by Architect Alberto Sato and assisted by Ignacio Urbina.

The photographic work was directed by Jorge Andrés Castillo and the graphic design by Ariel Pintos.

Exhibition design and museology of this exposition was a collaborative project with Venezuelan architect Marcel Erminy and aimed to show objects designed and manufactured in the country, in the spaces of a colonial house in the city of Caracas.

A kind of shop window with a wavy band showed small objects in the center of the main hall. Almost one hundred products were exhibited in this exhibition, the largest industrial design exhibition ever held in Venezuela.