Take your pencils and a piece of paper and start sketching!  The City of Athens *GR // ATHENS 2010 // and the non-governmental organization The World of Athens joined their forces in a creative global online contest // Athens Bench Mark // in an effort to redesign and construct new benches for the city of Athens.  The contest aims at improving the quality of life for the Athenians as well as the tourists, and upgrade the aesthetic design of the city.  Based on a scheme to reinforce the awareness of an eco-society, and develop the creative, social and digital development within the city, Athens Bench Mark invites you to submit your designs regarding the ideal bench.
 
Designers, artists, and anyone else from around the world are welcome to participate in this contest.  Design submissions started yesterday February, 23, 2010 and can be submitted online up until April 6, 2010.  Entry terms, conditions, and technical specifications may be found in the Athens Bench Mark website in English and Greek.  Throughout this period the general public will have the opportunity of viewing and voting for their favorite submission through the website.

Furthermore, if you want to be a bit more creative and not stick to the technical guidelines which a production bench has, you can submit your designs in a parallel competition called the Future Bench which is exclusively sponsored by BOMBAY SAPPHIRE gin.  So how does the Future Bench really look like for you, if there are no constraints? Let your imagination run wild and submit your designs.  Throughout the submission period the public will vote online for the best proposals in both categories.  Furthermore, a special committee of eminent professionals in the area of design will evaluate and select the top three winning designs.
 
The top three winning proposals will be awarded with a monetary prize and at least one them will be set into production and enjoyed by the people throughout the wonderful city of Athens!  The 50 most popular ideas of the Future Bench competition will be showcased in an exhibition at Technopolis from April 26th to May 9th, 2010.

The public will be able to view entries and select the best proposals through online voting. A special panel comprised of distinguished professionals and prominent experts from the fields of design and the visual arts, people from the mass media sectors and representatives of the bodies organizing the contest, are the following:
- Dafne Zoumboulakis (Gallerist)
- Theano Diolis ( Representative of the City of Athens)
- Katerina Katsabe ( Member of the City Council of Athens & President of Athens Tourism and Economic Development Company)
- Maria Houkli (Journalist)
- To be determined (Architect)
- Sergios Fotiadis (Industrial designer)
- Tatiana Karapanagioti (Photographer/producer)

Finally, students, schools and individuals are invited to participate in Athens Bench Mark’s voluntary program in May. Some of us from Yatzer will surely be there as we are always keen on volunteering!  The City of Athens will have onsite technicians to assist in the maintenance of existing benches throughout the city.   Last but not least, Yatzer is very proud to be the media sponsor of this wonderful design related event which will only make our city look better…because, Yatzer hearts Athens!

And don’t forget as you’re designing, or voting for that special bench, that despite the fact that a bench has no life and no emotions, we have shared with it memories, emotions, our first kiss, fun times with our friends, our silence when something was just wrong and we didn’t want to speak to anyone; we’ve enjoyed good and bad times throughout our years and we’ll share many more of those moments with it!  Take some time to enjoy one of those moments which takes place on a bench in a short film written by Nikos & Constantin Pilavios and directed by Constantin Pilavios. 

A film which we here at Yatzer truly appreciate!

video credits

Cast
Father: Nikos Zoiopoulos
Son: Panagiotis Bougiouris

Directed by: Constantin Pilavios
Written by: Nikos & Constantin Pilavios
Director of photgraphy: Zoe Manta
Music by: Christos Triantafillou
Sound by: Teo Babouris
Mixed by: Kostas Varibobiotis
Produced by: MovieTeller films