Transformation mission of public TV

Gender Design Award Revolution 2023, given by iGDN e.V.

The politically promoted transformative power of design

The Argentinian children TV production ?Elvira” wins the Gender Design Award in the category Revolution. The series deserves the award for its innovative and courageous attempt to transform society by showing children the variety of human diversity in a country with exemplary laws on diversity and sexual education where, however, stereotyped content for children continues to be produced. The award goes to Argentinian designers Natalia Laclau, Julia Martinez Heimann and ángeles Cornejo, who bring their political and social engagement to bear as designers and filmmakers, demonstrating the transformative power inherent in design.

This jury decision clearly shows the extraordinary task of the Gender Design Award when it comes to the diversity of design intentions that exist in the world: By awarding "ELVIRA", the iGDN gives a stage to South-American design approaches that frame the roles and opportunities of design and designers in a rather political or even activist way. The production of the Argentinean children's series was supported by state authorities in order to expand rights related to gender diversity.

ELVIRA is a sensitively animated Argentinian series for children, produced for public TV. The videos show human diversity in a very playful, sometimes funny way: They demonstrate how kids can become strong and self-confident in their individual gender. “Elvira“ encourages children not to give in to social stereotypes about gender. The series is accompanied by pedagogical guidelines for teachers and parents.

In Argentina, the fight for tolerance and diversity is much harder than in e.g. Germany. As in many places, it is mainly led by women. Considerin this situation, the series needs to be seen as an activist, even courageous act. What is remarkable here is that state institutions, together with the public broadcasters, support the development towards diversity and gender diversity that does not correspond to the ideas of the male majority. Design is used here as an activist medium and serves as a social instrument.

Natalia Laclau is a designer, film producer and educator, specialising in projects related to gender and diversity issues. She is also the Head of Cultural Policy for Equality at the Ministry of Women, Gender Policy and Sexual Diversity of the Province of Buenos Aires. Julia Martinez Heimann is a filmmaker, cultural manager and founder of ONG ACá, an educational and arts organisation for social and educational projects and audiovisual content. In her projects, she collaborates with feminist and queer LGBTBIQ+ organisations. ángeles Cornejo is an illustrator who creates playful and experimental animated films. Cornejo has been involved in numerous animation projects and several anthologies.

The jury is convinced that this series means a great step for design in its role of becoming a political entity. Therefore, the production team of the Argentine children's series "ELVIRA" deserves this award as a role model for many other politically and transformatively driven submissions, because it has by far the greatest impact. https://www.argentina.gob.ar/noticias/producciones-culturales-para-trabajar-la-esi