While working on a Sioux reservation infrastructure project with the U.S. Air Force, Quilian Riano was inspired to study design, which awakened “his interest in the participatory design processes that tackle political inequality.” The Vilcek Foundation, who present annual awards to foreign-born scientists and artists in the US, awarded DSGN AGNC founder Riano with one of four 2014 Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise in the Arts award in recognition of his ongoing design and activism work. Joining three designers and four biomedical scientists, the award winners will receive their awards of $35,000-$100,000 at a gala in New York City on April 2, 2014.
On a Sioux reservation in South Dakota, Quilian Riano, then a young man in the U.S. Air Force, had been assigned to help the Red Horse Team, the USAF’s engineering corps; their job, to provide drinking water and roads in areas that lacked the most basic infrastructure. The reservation was near Rapid City and the Ellsworth Air Force Base, but a long way from Mr. Riano’s home in Hialeah, Florida, and farther still from his birthplace in Bogota, Colombia. Yet he made a profound connection while working with members of the Sioux nation and the Air Force team. “In short, my experience in South Dakota would become an inspiration to my decision to go back to Florida and study design.”
Click here to read more about Quilian Riano and the seven Vilcek Prize winners, online at Vilcek.org.
