PRESS RELEASE

Space Oddity : design/fiction

18/11/2012 > 10/03/2013

INTRODUCTION

David Bowie’s 1969 single Space Oddity propelled him to the top of the charts.

The song’s music, words and its first video speak of an epoch stunned by the first expeditions into

space, man’s first steps on the moon and advances happening in the worlds of science, technology

and (the changing shape of) objects. Architecture, design, fashion, domestic appliances, consumer

goods, literature and cinema seized on the capsule-like shapes, synthetic materials and special

effects of aeronautical research. The exhibition begins with a nod to this era through the Bowie clip.

The visitor is then propelled to another epoch: his own.

Does science fiction still make sense today? As famous astrophysicist Carl Sagan declared over

twenty years ago in an interview given to the New Scientist, “science is stranger than science fiction”.

The author of the piece was writer and cosmology consultant Marcus Chown. In a 2008 article in the

same publication, the latter asked whether science fiction was dying. “…Science – and its companion,

technology – evolve so rapidly that science fiction cannot keep up. However, at its most basic level,

science and the extrapolation of science simply puts forward alternative worlds in which to set a

story.”1 These alternative and imaginary worlds, projections of our fears and fantasies, are the

setting for new fictions and stories. But if current technologies allow us to land a robot on Mars or

send nanorobots into human tissue to treat specific illnesses, science fiction is still restricted to the

fantastical, be it in literature or cinema, or in the multiple interpretations of themes that abound in

this genre: themes such as utopia, space, aliens, anticipation, the apocalypse, mutants… These

subjects can be found, consciously or not, at the heart of the work of many creators, and appear in

the individual interpretations of certain works. This is what the first part of the exhibition touches on;

a metaphorical and poetic tableau of an unlikely future; a naïve vision of an imaginary world that has

turned towards the weird and the bizarre. The first part of the show is a stroll through a landscape

that expresses man’s fascination with these space oddities, a fantasy inspired by conscious and

unconscious references to the canons and classics of the genre.

The second section of the exhibition explores the new tools designers have at their disposal today

and that propel design towards the future. Thanks to computer software, the organic and the fractal

have replaced the streamlining of the 30s and the all-plastic culture of the 60s. In 1964 Arthur C.

Clarke, the author of ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’, predicted that thanks to a machine called the

Replicator, one day “objects [would be] as easy to make as books are to print.” A machine that could

replicate to infinity… What appeared futuristic at the time has become commonplace. 3D printing

allows anyone to become the creator of a 3D shape, however complex it is. This invention appeals to

a new democracy of object-making and has turned the entire design system on its head. Questions of

intellectual property, the role of the maker, the distributor and the end consumer are all up for

discussion. Some use this state-of-the-art technology to challenge future modes of production. But

the real value of the projects shown here resides above all in their dream-like and fantastical

dimension. Poetry is also part of the future.

1 Is Science Fiction dying? Marcus Chown, The New Scientist, 12 November 2008.

DESIGNERS AND EXHIBITING WORKS INVENTORIES

NACHO CARBONELL

Born in Valencia in 1981, Nacho Carbonell was graduated in 2003 at the Spanish university Cardenal Herrera

C.E.U. and at the Design Academy Eindhoven, with the projects “Dream of sand” and “Pump it up”, and was

honoured with Cum Laude. Once graduated he created collections such as Evolution in 2009, which won him

nominations to the design of the year by the London Design Museum, and which marked his ongoing

collaboration with Galleria Rossana Orlandi. The same year, he was also named Designer of the Future by

DesignMiami fair organisers. His identity which defines his actual style of organic forms and rough and colourful

finishing textures, is bringing him into an international scene of private collections and museums, such as the

Groningen Museum in The Netherlands, and the 2121 Museum in Japan, all attracted by the uniqueness of

materials and techniques applied in his works. He likes to see objects as living organisms, imagining them

coming alive and turn them into communicative objects that can arouse one’s sensations and imagination.

What he wants to create are objects with a fictional or fantasy element, that allow the public to escape

everyday life. Nacho currently works with his team in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, were he has established his

studio.

Bush of iron, Diversity serialize, 2010, metallic structure and metal exctrusion.

Courtesy Spazio Rossana Orlandi.

For DesignMiami/ Basel 2010, and following the success of his Diversity collection, Nacho Carbonell opted to

make a final grand Diversity piece resembling a natural creature that is made using raw iron crafted as in the

beginning of the industrial era. The Bush of Iron, as it is titled, is the last and most laborious piece, designed

with a reinforced all iron structure which houses thousands of wire spines seemingly extruding from the desk-

like frame. Inspite of the creature-like inspiration, the designer opted to keep the cold and serene attributes of

the metal and provided it with a weight – close to a ton – and a volume large enough so that it creates an

overwhelming atmosphere in it’s surroundings. In the inside of the piece, the user will find a space where to

rest, think, isolate himself… always protected from the exterior thanks to the metal extrusions reaching meters

into the air.

HUSSEIN CHALAYAN

Hussein Chalayan has been working experimentally and conceptually at the frontier between fashion,

architecture and design for 18 years. His designs stand out for their intellectual rigour and his work for its

constant striving for technical perfection and challenging of fashion stereotypes. Ever since he started out,

Chalayan has distinguished himself by inventively exploring multiple other media such as sculpture, furniture-

making, video or cinematic special effects, all of which he uses in his collections, drawing inspiration from the

political, social and economic issues of the moment. Chalayan was born in Nicosia in 1970 and studied in

Cyprus and later in London where he graduated from Central St Martin’s College of Art and Design in 1993. He

founded his fashion label the following year and his first collection – aptly entitled Buried Dresses - was made

up of a series of dresses that had been buried underground in a garden for three months and were entirely

transformed and altered as a result of the effects of oxidation. Critics were astonished but unanimously

adulatory about the collection. Since then Chalayan has never ceased to surprise and intrigue the public going

on to become one of the most innovative figures in the British fashion world.

Place to passage, edition 3 + 1 EA, 2003, 5 screens fixed, 12’ 10’, color, soundtracks.

Courtesy Galerist, Istanbul.

Inspired by a visit to the B·A·R Honda factory, Chalayan uses the metaphor of F1 racing to explore the

implications of speed and technology on the contemporary psyche. The project began with Chalayan creating

his own fantasy vision of a racing car. Using 3D modeling and the state-of-the-art B·A·R factory F1 fabrication

techniques, an aerodynamic pod-like sculpture was built, which became the centrepiece of his film.

Working with the conceptual animation company Neutral, Chalayan conceived an imagined journey that takes

the viewer from raw urban streets, through a post-industrial highway to a dreamlike landscape and an icy

wilderness. As with F1 reportage, the perspective fluctuates from the objective to the subjective. At times

viewers are mere bystanders following the speeding pod, with its androgynous female passenger, as it pursues

its relentless route around them. At other times, they find themselves cocooned on the inside, the pod acting

as a calm refuge for reflection. Strands of the passenger’s life begin to flash past, bringing an awareness of the

symbolic dimension to the journey. As the pod traces a lifecycle, Chalayan examines how velocity affects our

senses and memories.

The multi-screen installation incorporates film footage, 3D computer animation and a sound track that collages

a specially commissioned piano composition with an atmospheric soundscape.

DRIFT (GORDIJN and NAUTA)

DRIFT design studio is curious about the future, not only the new technologies that are changing design, but

also the evolutionary developments in nature and human culture. It strives to find the perfect combination of

knowledge and intuition, science fiction and nature, fantasy and interactivity. Its goal is to create a dialogue

between the viewer and the objects, embodied in tangible objects that refer to realities that are often

impenetrable and difficult to understand.

The studio was founded by Ralph Nauta and Lonneke Gordijn, both graduates of the Design Academy of

Einhoven. The duo's skills are complimentary; Nauta's precise knowledge of craft, materials and production

techniques; Gordijn's intuitive awareness of concept and composition. The resulting works are an intriguing

amalgamation of fantasy and increasingly relevant reality. They question relationship between nature,

technology and humankind. Since 2006 their work has been exhibited at leading museums and fairs worldwide,

including the Victoria & Albert Museum London, Museum of Arts & Design New York, World Expo Shanghai,

Design/ Miami, Salone del Mobile Milan, …

Fragile Future 3, EA, 2010, real dandelion seeds, electronic, Phosphorescent bronze, LEDs, perspex.

Courtesy Carpenters Workshop Gallery.

Fragile Futur 3 tells the story about the amalgamation of nature and technology. In the distant future these two

extremes have made a pact to survive. Fragile Futur 3 combines an electrical system with real dandelions in a

light sculpture that is predestined to overgrow a surface. Fragile Futur 3 is a light installation, made from real

dandelions, that questions our current time. It is searching for a balance between technology and nature, man

and its environment.The Dandelions that we harvest in fields and the precise handwork and patience that is

needed to handle them, combined with the industrial production processes like laser cutting and the

craftsmanship of bending the metal, gives rise to an image that is familiar yet captivating. The piece raises a lot

of questions; how can something so delicate be preserved and why do the tiny parachutes not blow away? The

FF3 collection is developed in collaboration with Carpenters Workshop Gallery and is part of various private

collections. It has won the ‘Light of the Future’ prize from the German Design Council in 2008.

ALDO BAKKER

The approach of Aldo Bakker (Amersfoort, NL 1971) is driven by exploring borders between humanity and

inhuman aspects in design, a hand drawn, architectural exploration into endlessness. With regards to this

subject, it is no coincidence that Aldo chose glass as his starting material to express himself with: glass has a

certain ‘inhuman’ aspect, it is the ideal material to produce shapes which seem almost perfect and artificial, a

way for Aldo to ‘drift away’ from an obvious visible human touch. The combination of human rituals and in a

way perfect, artificial shapes remains a recurring theme and it forms the indispensable tension in Aldo’s work.

Before designing in glass, Aldo skilled himself in the crafts of jewellery design, the occupation of both his

parents. For years, Aldo was the only employee of Atelier Noyons in Utrecht. It was Jewellery design that

formed Aldo’s professional patience and shaped the perfectionism which can be found in his work until today.

After studying almost every possible side to the production of glass and after realising his first complete glass

line, Aldo returned to wood and the creation of wooden furniture. At the same time he got his firsts large

assignment for the interior design of the Amsterdam based restaurant ‘Zuid-Zeeland’, a design which was for

Aldo a way to bring a true range of products to life, in a short matter of time. A restaurant evidently needs

chairs, tables and glasswork.

Around the same period, Aldo held his first large exhibitions, starting with his first overview at the Amsterdam

Gallery ‘Binnen’. Followed by Solo presentations in Milan and London. During the London exhibition he met Ilse

Crawford, head teacher of the department ‘Well being’ at the famous Design academy Eindhoven, which

meant the lift off of Aldo’s career as a teacher at the academy.

Tri pod, Urushi serial, 2005, urishi (japonese’s lacquer) black. Done by Mariko Nishide.

Courtesy Particles Gallery.

Tripod is one of six furniture objects from the Urushi Series by Aldo Bakker, represented by Particles. The

object is an investigation into the character of a tripod, with three different ways of creating a 'leg'. One of

these lifts the body slightly sideways, endowing the object with a curiously sentient aura.The deep black Urushi

skin reflects its habitat with a muted deformity that blends negative and positive space to form this peculiar

introverted creature. The Urushi Series presented by Particles at Design Miami/ Basel and Fuori Salone Milan in

2010. In the permanent collection of Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, amongst others.

Urushi

The design of the Urushi series form a first clear statement against the adage mentioned above and form a new

milestone in Aldo’s work. Still, for insiders, the relationship between his first glasswork designs and the Urushi

series is evident. This series presents the full complexity of Aldo’s working methods. As he describes this

himself: ‘My work is the result of an almost endless and time-consuming process that sometimes seems to drag

on forever. It’s a process that largely takes place in my head. Few sketches or models of early versions of my

designs exist. I view my designs as the work of a vormgever, which in Dutch literally means ‘giver of form’. This

principle seems at odds with current conventions – the view that a clear concept automatically leads to

interesting formal aspects.

During my research into form, I am resigned to being burdened by my own perfectionism. This perfectionism is

the reason why my portfolio contains no more than half the number of products that are common for someone

of my age. In recent years terms like ‘authenticity’ and ‘originality’ have, in my view, been used with a certain

opportunism and carelessness around me. Both in my language and in my form, I choose to approach them

very precisely. I allow my designs to acquire physical shape only when I deem them to be ‘autonomous

entities’.

For Aldo, the Urushi series form a new beginning as well as an end. Aldo aims to evoke interaction with multiple

senses with his outspoken love for materials and his never-ending determination to understand various

craftsmanship’s. Due to his urge for perfection, his objects lack a typical ‘handmade’ impression, even

contrarily. The almost endless process of their realisation gives his designs a sense of ‘inhuman’ belonging,

questioning their own existence.

Aldo Bakker Tri pod, 2005, black urushi executed by Mariko Nishide, 370 x 330 x 300 mm. Urushi Serie. Courtesy Particles Gallery

© Photo Wouter vanden Brink.

FERNANDO AND HUMBERTO CAMPANA

Working from the emerging and vibrant design community of Sao Paulo, Brazilian design duo Fernando and

Humberto Campana create visually rich pieces repurposed from familiar everyday materials. Since 1983, the

brothers Fernando (1961) and Humberto (1953) Campana have been solidly building their career achieving

both national and international recognition. Their work incorporates the idea of transformation and

reinvention. Giving preciousness to poor, day-to-day or common materials carries not only the creativity in

design, but also very Brazilian characteristics – the colours, the mixtures, the creative chaos, the triumph of the

simple solutions. Based in Sao Paulo, Estudio Campana is constantly investigating new possibilities in furniture

making. It creates bridges and dialogues where the exchange of information is also a source of inspiration. The

work in partnership with communities, factories and industries keeps the freshness of Estudio Campana

repertoire.

Black Iron Chair, Iron serial, 2004, stainless steel. Courtesy Carpenters Workshop Gallery.

The Black Iron Chair is part of the 'Iron Series', which also includes the 'Blue Iron Chair' and the 'Red Iron Chair'.

For this series, the Campanas' experimented with shapes and lines, creating an effect of 'frozen' lines floating in

air. A poetical and mysterious apparition.

WENDELL CASTLE

Wendell Castle’s work is recognized for its sardonic sense of humour and uniquely sculptural use of materials,

including his signature use of stack-laminated wood. He has continually reinvented himself for half a century,

approaching 80 years old with no signs of slowing down. Often credited as the founding father of the American

crafts movement, changing the way we view furniture and expanding the possibilities of design and art, Castle

has redesigned sculpture and design by seamlessly fusing the two into one genre. Born in Kansas in 1932,

Wendell Castle received a B.F.A. from the University of Kansas in Industrial Design in 1958 and an M.F.A. in

Sculpture, graduating in 1961. He moved to Rochester, New York to teach at the School of American Craftsmen

and established a permanent studio in the area, which is still operating today. He is now amongst the pantheon

of great contemporary designers, whose work can be found in the permanent collections of over 40 museums

and cultural institutions, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Museum of Modern Art in

New York and The White House, Washington.

Night unveils, 2011, wood. Courtesy Carpenters Workshop Gallery.

Seventh Night is an object evoking the depth of darkness. This functional sculpture seems subtly rooted to the

ground, but this growth evokes both some strange fauna onlooker and a forest thousands of years old with

imposing trunks deformed by the passing of time. This walnut wood with its oiled finish seems as precious as

ebony. The sculptor implores you to touch it, with polished or gouged effects on its surface. He enhances the

material by tempting us into its subtle curves, the light which seems to emanate from the object, an invitation

to meditation. The functional dimension is not deliberately excluded, this formal work seems drawn from the

archetypal repertoire of a collection of indigenous art.

Wendell Castle, Night unveils. Courtesy Carpenters Workshop Gallery

Dunne & Raby

Dune and Raby use to imagine the design as a medium as an interaction stimulation designers, industry and

public. Them works are a creative provocation to put a reflexion about social, cultural and ethical move of

technologies features.

Anthony is professor and leader of interaction program design at the Royal College of Art based in London. He

studied the industrial design at the Royal College then he worked for Sony Design at Tokyo. He’s one of the

owner of CRD research studio.

Fiona is design professor at the University of Arts in Vienna and spock at the RCA where she studied

architecture. She worked for Kei’ichi architects at Tokyo. She’s also an owner of CRD research studio.

Them Works has been shown and get some publication at an international level. Them work is so reputate that

they are in the permanent collection of MoMA from Victoria & Albert Museum from Frac Ile-de-France and

Fnac (Contemporary Art National Found).

How hard can it be ? : Foragers, 2009-2010, fiberglass.

What could be happen if we’ll breack the link between design and market and if instead to have technology to

get an easy life we will not have some ? Designers will use design language by asking questions, provocating

and giving us more imagination to travel in an other dimension. In regards of reality impossible projects

designers are offering mockup, photographic, videos and 3D texts script to realise links. It’s not the answer but

a kind of question, imagination and also dreams to create or put a reflexion about us mediatisate worldwide. A

heavy dream of a world wich is inventive with complexe people instead of easy influencal consumers who we

should be.

A part of between project reality and impossible, foragers fall a reflexion about food issues.

For the next fourty years, we will need to product food as a level of 70% more than now. Actually, we carry on

the same way whithout paying attention to this advice. We go against the common sens. In the foragers theory

some people hold the mix and imagine some home made practices against this nearly crisis. The biology is used

to do some gastric bacteres with the supportof electronicand mecanic tools. They optimalize life by the

environement way to face commercial no sense. We call these people life foragers.

OLAFUR ELIASSON

Olafur Eliasson was born in 1967. His works are describe by others and the artist too, like an experimental

system as he created links between photography, sculpture and cinema. Since 1977, he show his work all

around the world in highly referenced individual exhibition as the curious as Kunstalle from bâle in 1997. The

mediated motion : « every morning I feel different, every evening I feel the same » at the Modern Art Museum

of Paris in 2002.

He’s the danish ambassador at the fiftieth biennial of Venise in 2003, then the same year, he did the

installation of the weather project at the Tate Modern of London.

Take your time : Olafur Eliasson is a study exhibition organised by SFMOMA in 2007. The exhibition traveled to

2010 by tacking place in different museum as the Modern Art Museum of New-York.

The exhibition Your chance encounter at the Art Contemporary Museum of 21 centuary at Kanazawa in 2009

added exterior installation Colour Activity House.

In 2010, his exhibition Innen Stadt Außen (Interior and exterior city) at the Martin-gropius-Bau of Berlin, had

some city contribution too.

Same in 2011, Seucorpo da obra used to do links between three institutions from Sao Polo – SESC Pompeia,

SESC Belenzinho, et la Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo – and it taked place also in the city.

The Eliasson project with the public space as target including Green River, made by the architect Kjetil Thorsen

and instaled temporaly in the Kesington garden of London.

The New-York city waterfalls committeed by the Public Art Found have been instaled for the 2008 summer on

the River East side at Brooking and Manhattan. Your rainbow panorama, a cricular platform with a longer of

492 feet done with colored screen putted on the top of ARoS Museum at Aarhus in Danmark. The exhibition

opened in mai 2011 then the Harpa Reykjavik concert hall and the conference center too. About this last,

Eliasson drew the front of the building in collaboration with the Architect Desk Hening Larsen has been

inaugurated in 2011.

The most recent project made by Eliasson, little sun, is a solar lamp developped in collaboration with Frederik

Ottesen to reach the improvement of life about 1,65 millions people in the world who don’t have acces to

electricity. Established in 1995 his berliner studio run with 55 hand makers, architects and historians of art. As

professo rat the University of Berlin, he have oppened the Institute für Raumexperimente (Spatial experment

agency of Berlin).

Starbrick, 2010, installation. Production : Zumtobel

« Starbrick is an axperimentation about luminosity ondulation and spatial developped in my studio tought

research and development program between relation of spatial and geometry. The mind think was to create a

complexe technology stones then we developped modular structural statement in star shape. Based on a three

part system of spatial conceptualisation : The solid structure, the negativ space placed in the centre who make

a cubic shape when it put together. For the last years, my studio leat a series of experimentation on the

luminosity with Zumtobel, one of those is focused on the differnce of quality and lighting of LED.

LEDs are put in a individuals Units. I developped a module who run firstly as a proper object but who can also

put together as clouds or wall infrastructure.

These elements can be independant or put in a bigger stucture use to create som sills or columns of longer,

form and volumes. In theory you could create a Starbrick Luminated house ! With the Zumtobel collaboration, I

had the opportunity to develop a lamp for the usage and the common life. This ask questions about art and

contemporarly society. How does the luminosity take place in the spatial environment ? How does she

influence the experiumental world ?

The luminosity sheap offer spatial escape indeterminated et we will be invite to get a new definition of us

sensibility. She has a highly potential in show. His short-lived givez us sensivility and individuals explanations

massively in social context. The luminosity has an important impact of the conprehension of the world, us,

society, etc. If we will rise-up us sensibility of luminosity with putting on the side the esthetic preocupation, I

think we will start to imagine the spatial environment in a different way. Starbrick try to be. » Olafur Eliasson.

OS ∆ OOS

Oskar Peet (NL/CAN) and Sophie Mensen (NL) are both graduates of the Design Academy Eindhoven (2009),

and started the firm OS&OOS in the Autumn off 2011. Both live and work currently in the city of Eindhoven the

Netherlands. Being both designers with the same feeling for form, shape and a general feeling for how we wish

to present ourselves and our products to the world, it was a clear choice to join forces. For Sophie Mensen, the

objects are able to show a clear form language and that without prior knowledge of the concept behind them.

They should be able to communicate, not only in their physical form but also in the manner it is to be used.

Oskar Peet (1984) searches to find the essence and simplicity in the complex. Peet realizes shapes and forms

mainly through a geometric nature, starting with the basic shapes to help communicate his personal

interpretation of essence.

Syzygy : Occultation, Transit, Eclipse, édition limitée de 12 + 2EA + 1 prototype, 2012.

In astronomy, a syzygy is a straight line configuration of three celestial bodies in a gravitational system. The

word is often used in reference to the Sun, the Earth and either the Moon or a planet, where the latter is in

conjunction or opposition. Solar and lunar eclipses2 occur at times of syzygy, as do transits3 and occultations4.

The sun was our first and only light source, in contradiction to the light sources we have today the sun is a

continuously never ending burning ball of fire. We experience night only when a part of the earth is cast into

shadow from itself as it rotates around the sun. Thelights created by OSANDOOS are inspired on the same

principle, the light source is constant, remaining always on. The light is adjusted by a subtle rotation of three

light filtering discs places in front of the light source. The rotational combinations of these three discs mimic

the effects of a syzygy. This physical blocking of the light was an important aspect in our concept, where a total

of three different lights demonstrate the three different aspects of a syzygy; transit, occultation and

eclipse.The end result is atmospheric light inspired by the sun and its surrounding celestial bodies, where the

light quality can be adjust but this time on the human scale.

2An eclipse occurs when a body disappears or partially disappears from view, either by an occultation, as with a solar eclipse, or by passing

into the shadow of another body, as with a lunar eclipse.

3A transit occurs when an apparently smaller body passes in front of an apparently larger one. 4An occultation occurs when an apparently larger body passes in front of an apparently smaller one.

OS ∆ OOS, Syzygy Transit.

OS ∆ OOS, Syzygy Group.

OS ∆ OOS, Syzygy Group.

OS ∆ OOS, « Syzygy Group »

OS ∆ OOS, Syzygy Transit.

JÓLAN VAN DER WIEL

The 26-year-old Dutch designer Jolan van der Wiel graduated from the prestigious Gerrit Rietveld Academy in

July 2011. During his studies he carried out experimental research into the forces of nature (gravitation,

centrifugal force, static force, wind power), finding new sources of inspiration and giving birth to new shapes.

The outcome of this research was the creation of a workshop that makes objects (such as stools and

chandeliers) out of resin and iron particles using magnetic fields. This innovative process gave rise to the

‘Gravity’ collection and has garnered van der Wiel two sought-after European design awards. He won the Berlin

DMY prize in 2012, the highest distinction in Germany for product design, and the [D3] Contest for young

designers at the IMM trade fair in Cologne. In both cases the international juries reward not only the object

created, but also the innovative nature of the creation process.

Gravity Stool, 2012, mixed of plastic and metalic particle. Collection Grand-Hornu Images,

Province de Hainaut.

In dialogue with a natural phenomenon.

The Gravity Stool thanks its unique shape to the cooperation between magnetic fields and the power of gravity.

Departing from the idea that everything is influenced by gravitation, a force that has a strongly shaping effect, I

intended to manipulate this natural phenomenon by exploiting its own power: magnetism. The positioning of

the magnetic fields in the machine, opposing eachother, has largely determined the final shape of the Gravity

Stool.

It is the combination of the magnetmachine with the plastic material, developed especially for this purpose,

that enabled me to start a small but efficient chain of production. The forms and products are characterized by

the freakisch and organic shapes that are so typical of nature itself.

As a designer, I see future potential in the joined cooperative forces combining technology with natural

phenomena. It is my believe that developing new “tools” is an important means of inspiring and allowing new

forms to take shape. DMY 2012 et [D3] Contest/

MATALI CRASSET

matali crasset is by training an industrial designer, a graduate of the Ateliers – E.N.S.C.I. (Workshops – National

Higher School of Industrial Design). At the beginning of 2000, after her initial experience with Denis Santachiara

Italy and with Philippe Starck in France, she set up her own studio in Paris called matali crasset productions.She

considers design to be research, working from an off-centred position allowing to both serve daily routines and

trace future scenarios. matali crasset works with a variety of actors. Always in search of new territories to

explore, she collaborates with eclectic worlds, from crafts to electronic music, from the textiles industry to fair

trade, realising projects in set design, furniture, architecture, graphics, collaborations with artists, and so on

such as with artists (Peter Halley), with young furniture-making companies, as well as with municipalities and

communes …This experienced acquired over the years has led her to currently work on more participative

projects, on a local and global level, both in rural and urban settings. From her meetings, creative workshops,

discussion and common desires, she works with different project leaders who nevertheless all have the same

conviction that these collective processes result in plausible social bonding scenarios. It’s ultimately the core

question of living together which defines her imaginative designs, writings and the sense of matali’s work.

Matali crasset is born in 1965 in Châlons-en-Champagne, works and lives in Paris.

Jólan van der Wiel : 3 Gravity stools.

Jólan van der Wiel working on his Gravity production machine.

Spring city, 2008, numeric motion. Courtesy Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris- Strasbourg.

Through her work Matali Crasset satisfies a compelling need to create flights of fancy where she allows her

imagination to soar, moments to dream about the future, soft fictions, small anticipatory whiffs in which the

future can be visualised… Exhibitions allow Crasset to create a parallel world, like a sort of bubble, an area of

deliberate lawlessness in which a creation can free itself and start again, in some ways, from nothing. These

soft fictions are virtual enough to dare and real enough to experiment; fictions that happen in a succession of

small and a priori absurd assumptions.

After having intuitively initiated a series of projects using the symbol of the tree stump, the idea came to

Crasset to pursue this immersion in the plant world. The Spring City animation was born out of the desire to

explore the multi-faceted potential of tree bark.

Similar to skin in terms of its function and structure, tree bark symbolises the idea of a return to an earlier

state. It’s a protective layer reduced to its very essence. Tree bark is waterproof, it protects from rain and from

temperature changes, and in that sense is very much like a home. It is a home in its most simple form.

There are varied forms of bark that exist in nature, but this one is not trying to be genuine or real, it is

attempting rather to explore the tension and relationship between the natural and artificial worlds.

The animation presents in this way a rhythm that unfurls and that draws the division between the interior and

exterior of things as it passes.

These digital images open up new and unsuspected worlds for us, spaces in which our minds can experiment.

There are few effects, the rhythm is not hyper accelerated, it’s an impression of light that changes colour every

now and again in order to tell a story. These are unreal worlds that may be completely artificial but seem at

peace. The colour white dominates as if to return to the blank page and slowly allow imaginary worlds to

appear. Humans submit to the same concept. The aim is not to read a better world into it but simply to share

an idea.

PATRICK JOUIN ID

After a stint at Philippe Starck, Patrick Jouin created his own agency for product design, interiors and exhibition

design in 1998. Jouin has created objects and furniture for the likes of Ligne Roset, Cassina, Fermob, Kartell or

Alessi, and has designed a prototype for a top-of-the-range Renault car; he is also behind the design of many of

Alain Ducasse’s restaurants around the world, such as the Plaza Athénée, Spoon Byblos and Le Mix (in New

York and Las Vegas). Combining tradition and clean lines, Patrick Jouin’s pieces stand out for the modernity and

elegance they embody. Nevertheless, the designer doesn’t hesitate to use sophisticated technologies to create

new shapes and typologies such as his Solid chairs and stool and One_Shot stool. On this topic he says:

“Technology allows us to make things today that seemed impossible yesterday.” Patrick Jouin’s designs are part

of the permanent MOMA (New York), Mudam (Luxembourg) and Centre Pompidou (Paris) collections. The

Centre Pompidou dedicated a retrospective to Jouin in 2010.

Chaise C2M, prototype Collection Solid, 2004. Produit par MGX by Materialise.

Stereolithography may only have a short history but the C2 chair of the SOLID collection has already become an

icon. Produced by MGX by Materialise, the chair is part of a collection pioneering the use of 3D printing, a

technique almost exclusively used for rapid prototyping (making small-scale models in plastic) that is paving the

way for a new industrial aesthetics. The SOLID collection is designed from this perspective.

The use of stereolithography or 3D-layering to create this object has allowed it to take on a shape and structure

that would be impossible if fabricated with a mould. It gives us a vision of a new and limitless freedom of

creation for industrial production using this technique in the future. Here you can see the first elements of this

new design glossary attempt to define what a seat actually is. Jouin chose this structure for its complexity, and

for its role as a sort of end-of-year exam for the designer.

MARKUS KAYSER

Markus Kayser was born near Hannover, Germany in 1983. He studied 3D Furniture and Product Design at

London Metropolitan University from 2004 - 2008 and continued with the study of Product Design at the Royal

College of Art, and gained his Master in 2011. Markus Kayser Studio was set up in London, UK in 2011.

From early works of furniture and lights in his father’s farm workshop through to today Markus Kayser

developed an understanding of materials, processes and technologies which he sees as being key in

combination with the natural given. He wants to engage by producing objects that one can relate to, that speak

about something else other than just their utilitarian qualities. The layers to be discovered as well as one’s

associations with objects interest him.

Experimentation plays a central part in developing his designs. Kayser’s recent work demonstrates the

exploration of hybrid solutions linking technology and natural energy to show the great opportunities, to

question current methodologies in manufacturing and to test new scenarios of production. In his process it is

important that behind the thorough research and the theory there must be a realistic proof of concept, which

elucidates the real potential of a given subject. He tries to tell a story and to balance the seriousness with a

sense of humour. This kind of storytelling makes his products as well as his experimental works digestible

without losing its depths in content.

The aim of the newly formed Markus Kayser Studio is to engage in discussion about opportunities in the

production of design involving new as well as forgotten processes and technologies. The studio draws from

science, art and engineering and aims to blur gaps between seemingly separate fields.

Solar Sinter, 2011, machine, bol.

In the deserts of the world two elements dominate - sun and sand. The former offers a vast energy source of

huge potential, the latter an almost unlimited supply of silica in the form of quartz. The experience of working

in the desert with the Sun-Cutter led me directly to the idea of a new machine that could bring together these

two elements. Silicia sand when heated to melting point and allowed to cool solidifies as glass. This process of

converting a powdery substance via a heating process into a solid form is known as sintering and has in recent

years become a central process in design prototyping known as 3D printing or SLS (selective laser sintering).

These 3D printers use laser technology to create very precise 3D objects from a variety of powdered plastics,

resins and metals - the objects being the exact physical counterparts of the computer-drawn 3D designs

inputted by the designer. By using the sun’s rays instead of a laser and sand instead of resins, Markus Kayser

had the basis of an entirely new solar-powered machine and production process for making glass objects that

taps into the abundant supplies of sun and sand to be found in the deserts of the world.

Kayser’s first manually-operated solar-sintering machine was tested in February 2011 in the Moroccan desert

with encouraging results that led to the development of the current larger and fully-automated computer

driven version - the Solar-Sinter. This experimental machine was completed in mid-May and later that month

the desiger took it to the Sahara desert near Siwa, Egypt, for a two week testing period. The machine and the

results of these first experiments presented here represent the initial significant steps towards what Markus

Kayser envisages as a new solar-powered production tool of great potential.

JULIAN MAYOR

Julian Mayor is an artist and designer based in East London. His work is inspired by the sculptural possibilities of

computers combined with industrial and craft making processes. After graduating from the Royal College of Art

in 2000 he worked in California as a designer for IDEO design consultancy. On returning to London in 2002 he

worked for Pentagram and other design studios before teaching 3D modelling at the London College of

Communication and starting to exhibit his own work. Julians work has been exhibited at the V&A London,

Rossana Orlandi Milan, FAT Galerie Paris and 21st21st New York.

Burnout Bench, 2007, stainless steel welded. Collection Donna & Mark Stephens.

The Burnout bench is based on crushed forms shown as computer generated wire-frame models. It is realised

in stainless steel as a series of five benches that can be placed together to make a flowing form. With this

project, computers are used both as a tool for the realisation of the project and as a central theme in the work

itself.

IRIS VAN HERPEN

Iris van Herpen (born 1984 Wamel, The Netherlands) started her own label Iris van Herpen in 2007. She

studied Fashion Design at ARTEZ (Arnhem) and did internships at Alexander McQueen in London and Claudy

Jongstra in Amsterdam.Iris van Herpen stands for a reciprocity between craftsmanship and innovation in

technique and materials.She creates a new direction of couture that combines fine handwork techniques with

futuristic digital technology.Van Herpen forces fashion to the extreme contradiction between beauty and

regeneration. It is her unique way to reevaluate reality and to express and underline individuality. The essence

of van Herpen is expressing the character and emotions of an unique woman and to extend the shape of the

feminine body in detail. She mixes craftsmanship- using old and forgotten techniques- with innovation and

materials inspired on the world to come.

Escapism, 2011, 3D printed dress, SLS-polyamide. Produit par MGX by Materialise.

Escapism is about the addiction of constantly escaping reality by digital entertainment, something that is a big

part of everybody’s world today. Iris van Herpen’s collection expresses her own concept of the “escapism”:

something viewed as the exaggerations and excesses that result of the digital age, and are eagerly swallowed

by the public in general. It’s all about how people find their own ways to reject reality through entertainment

addictions. Iris presents a future that is a mix of nature blended with technology; her imaginary hereafter is not

the usual space age that we see as our future.The sculptures of American artist Kris Kuksi are one of the main

inspirations of Iris van Herpen’s work, his art is considered as part of the Fantastic Realism, implying a

contradiction that perfectly fits Iris’ work; a predilection of the grotesque and bizarre, but also a serenity and a

spiritual aesthetic.

The whole collection is about mixing craftsmanship -­­using old and forgotten techniques-­­ and innovation

involving the procedure of rapid prototyping. The ability of melting both the past and the future of fashion

together into something new is a recurrent theme.Part of the collection is created through a whole new

technique, a result of the work of Iris and the Architect Daniel Widrig. These sculptured pieces are totally 3D

printed, without any seam, which means no sewing-­­machine or handwork involved.All these rapid prototypes

are 3D lasered from polyamide powder.

DIRK VANDER KOOIJ

Dirk Vander Kooij (The Netherlands, Purmerend, 1983) succeeded in developing new techniques that make him

capable of creating distinguished designs. Absorbed in engineering, milling around ideas, moulding and refining

methods long enough, have now given him a firm grasp on how to realize what he has in mind.He was

graduated at the Design Academy Eindhoven. His work has been shownin various locations since 2011.

Dirk Vander Kooij, Rocking Chair (2011), Saloon Table (2011), collection Endless. Impression 3D,

inside of fridges recycled.

Vander Kooij’s graduation project was inspired by a shape that was made using an old 3D printer. This principle

is 30 years old, but the older machines were not very accurate. By carefully examining that process, one could

identify how the shape was being formed: a very thin thread was meticulously moved to and fro, building up

the shape very efficiently and without waste. The idea occurred instantly and the student began to build a

machine specialised in making furniture. Thick threads of plastic that create a honest ornament by clearly

showing how the chair is fabricated.He used an old industrial robot which he programmed in such a way that it

would "print" furniture. In a virtually endless movement the robot extrudes recycled refrigerator interiors into

chairs. The collection comprises a rocking chair, a saloon table and a lamp.

Dirk Vander Kooij, Satellite (2012). Collection Endless. 3D printed, inside of recycled fridges.

Utilisant le même robot et la même technique que pour la chaise et la table de salon Endless, la lampe Satellite

intègre trois sources lumineuses circulaires qui peuvent être ajustées séparément pour régler l’intensité et la

chaleur. Deux boutons fonctionnent comme un mitigeur pour le contrôle d’une lumière chaude ou froide.

UNFOLD

Unfold was founded in 2002 by Claire Warnier and Dries Verbruggen, after they graduated from the Design

Academy Eindhoven as a platform for everything they did and would do. The Antwerp-based duo developed a

strong multidisciplinary background in design, technology and art and often collaborates with a vast network of

kindred spirits and specialists.Currently, Unfold focuses on three overlapping domains: computation and

production methods, spatial design and products, furnictecture, Theory and assembling.

Unfold worked for ao: Jaga, Joris Laarman LAB, Middelheim Museum, Droog Design, Unilever, Contour Video

Art Biennial, Meg Stuart, Netherlands Architecture Institute and Heineken.Unfold exhibited in ao: Brussels,

Antwerp, Hasselt, London, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, New York, Milan, Stockholm, Prague.

Claire Warnier, founder, researcher, designer, is graduated at the Design Academy Eindhoven, department of

Man and Identity in 2002 and received a Master in Art Sciences at the University of Ghent in 2008. Besides

Unfold she works on her phd thesis in design theory, before she worked as a curator for Z33, art center in

Hasselt, Belgium.

Dries Verbruggen, founder, lecturer, designer is graduated at the Design Academy Eindhoven, department of

Man and Living in 2002. He co-founded United Statements in 1999. Besides Unfold he teaches spatial design at

Sint-Lukas Brussels, university college of art and design and before 2010 at the ICT & Media Design department

of the Fontys University of Applied Sciences.

Unfold, L’artisan électronique © Photo Kristof Vrancken

L’Artisan Électronique, 2010. Avec le soutien de Tim Knapen.

In L’Artisan Électronique, pottery, one of the oldest artisanal techniques for making utilitarian objects, is

combined with new digital media. However, the installation still clearly refers to the artisanal process of

working in clay.

Unfold’s ceramic 3d printer has a great resonance with the way traditional potters handled clay by building a

form out of coils of clay. The virtual pottery wheel on the other hand, is a digital tool to ‘turn’ forms in thin air

through a scanner that. The forms are transmitted to the 3D printer.

L’Artisan Electronique is an installation commissioned by Z33 for the exhibition Design by Performance and

developed in collaboration with Tim Knapen and the RepRap community. It was shown in exhibitions in Abu

Dhabi (Abu Dhabi Art Fair), Jerusalem (Israel Museum), Rotterdam (CBK), Enkhuizen (Zuiderzeemuseum),

Brussels (Design Flanders Gallery), London (Aram Gallery), ...

MARIUS WATZ

Marius Watz (NO) is an artist working with visual abstraction through generative software processes. His

practice is concerned with the construction of 2D and 3D structures as a product of parametric behaviors,

producing works in a variety of output media from realtime software works to physical installations and

machine-made drawings.

Watz has exhibited internationally at venues including Victoria & Albert Museum (London), Todaysart (The

Hague), ITAU Cultural (Sao Paulo), Museumsquartier (Vienna), and ROM for Kunst og Arkitektur (Oslo).

In 2010, he was commissioned to create “Prime”, a permanent public artwork for the Bybanen light rail system

in Bergen.

Watz lectures in Interaction Design at the Oslo School of Architecture and Design. In 2005, he founded

Generator.x, a curatorial platform for generative art and computational design. He gives workshops and

lectures on generative systems, parametric design and computational aesthetics.

Marius Watz is represented by [DAM]Berlin. He currently lives in New York and Oslo.

Modular, 2012, objets paramétriques, impression 3D, plastique ABS.

Following up on his Makerbot residency, Markus Watz has developed a number of form studies specifically

intended for the Makerbot. The low cost allows a real exploration of the serial nature of a single system, rather

than selecting one single “perfect” form. The inspiration of the Archigram publications and is tangible in these

parametric objects.

.RAD Product (Pauline Coudert et Laurent Chabrier)

.rad product is a product and space design agency founded by Pauline Coudert and Laurent Chabrier. The

agency aims at offering projects both in Belgium and abroad looking beyond more aesthetic and technology.

.rad product focuses on standard objects, to question their experience, their functionality. We try to create,

through a detail, something new, even if we annihilate the original function. For them it's a kind of functional

demolition using deconstruction, working with unexpected role, material, to redefine the object.

Miss Shelby, lampe, impression 3D, polyamide. Collection Grand-Hornu Images / province de Hainaut.

The suspension lamp consists of numerous blades as a pattern to denote volume and emptiness. Its design

diffuses light without revealing its source and suggests an endless movement. It is a made in polyamide

following a stereolithograhy process.

LAb[au] - LABORATORY FOR ARCHITECTURE AND URBANISM

(Manuel Abendroth, Jérôme Decock, Els Vermang)

LAb[au] are a trio of artists, founded in 1997 and based in Brussels, Belgium. The name LAb[au] itself indicates

the character of this trio’s projects through a phonetic notation of the French/Dutch word ‘labo’, expressing

the theoretical and research-based aspect, and the German word ‘Bau’, expressing the concrete realisation of

these projects.

From this perspective, the title LAb[au] refers to a fundamental vision of art similar to that which took root

within Bauhaus and which prompted a new artistic practice aiming to rearticulate technological progress in

artistic and aesthetic work. Whilst the Bauhaus movement was part of a new industrial era, we are today in the

era of information. Nevertheless, the transdisciplinary and collaborative approach taken – recording

technological progress into artistic practice – is still a similar one.

LAb[au]’s work is characterised by the establishment of systems, whether interactive, reactive or generative.

The identification of parameters and the setting of rules to govern the system becomes the fundamental

artistic act, with the form itself representing the result of this process.

Particle Synthesis, 2011, installation, plexiglas, écrans LCD, ordinateurs, haut-parleurs.

From sound design to the design of an object and space, the Particle Synthesis installation offers an

environment of anticipation reflecting the Space Age, the era of the conquest of space, of Sputnik, Spock and

the Moog synthesiser. From the outside, this audiovisual installation takes the shape of a transparent

hexagonal ring laid on the ground with all its electronic components exposed, inevitably recalling a futuristic

control station. However, from the outside it is also reminiscent of the fantastic plastic furniture of Colombo or

Panton. This installation therefore combines two perspectives – that of the exterior, of the object, and that of

the interior, of immersion in the image and sound. Visitors can follow the exterior’s different audiovisual

compositions to gain an overall vision of the generative process taking place in front of their eyes, or dive into

the sound space, that of the dissemination of sound and the image within the space, on the inside of the

structure.

The title of the installation is a reference to the audio-visual process of particle synthesis, combining a visual

particle rendering device with granular sound synthesis. This research was prompted by the possibility of

uniting visual and aural parameters within a single space, whether electronic or physical. Both these two

technologies consider a shape or a sound to be the result of the combination (synthesis) of numerous elements

(particles) which would otherwise be neither visible nor audible on their own. Based on the interactions

between hundreds of these particles, each with its own ‘program’, this becomes a real aural and visual

‘organism’ deployed in surround sound and across multiple screens to create a panoramic, 360 degree visual

and aural experience.

No sound or shape is predetermined in the composition of Particle Synthesis – everything is deployed via a

real-time process in accordance with the principles of generative art. These principles allow complex behaviour

to emerge. The installation gives shape to new possibilities in aural and visual composition which profess to be

adherents of a systemic art. This type of approach itself carries a vision of our time which is nevertheless (fairly

unsurprisingly) as related to the futuristic visions of the past as it is to the concrete visions of the present.

LAb[au], Particle Synthesis installation, 2011

MOTIONS ON THE SIDE OF THE EXHIBITION

Christmas at Grand-Hornu

The Mac’s team and the Grand-Hornu image will be please to send you and your family in the strange world of

science fiction. 26 > 29 / 12 / 2012, 2 & 4 / 01 / 2013 – 02 :00 pm. Free* *Pay the entrance and get the christmas wishes free.

*Moyennant le paiement du droit d’entrée au site.

The workshop

IMPRESSION 3D BY UNFOLD

Saturday 12 / 01 / 2013 – 11:00 am > 04:00 pm

What does the 3D print potential ? What do are his limitation ? A sort of softwares and technics minding. 12

years old and over. 15€ each

Internship

TO INFINITY AND BEHYOND…

11 > 15 / 02 / 2013 – 9:00 am > 04:00 pm. Children from 4 to 7 years old. 38€ a week.

« LE PROGRÈS : TROP ‹ ROBOT › POUR ÊTRE VRAI » JACQUES PRÉVERT

13 > 15 / 02 / 2013 Teenager from 13 to 15 years old. 38€ each

Conferences

MATHIEU LEHANNEUR

Friday 01 / 02 / 2013 – 19:00

Very early, the french designer went tourought exploration and interaction between the body and its

environment, the bacteries and the scientific mind, building some structures so usefull and magics. The

conference will open a conducted tour of Mathieu Lehanneur’s exhibition. Choses (Things), at 6 :30 pm. 6€

each

ALEXANDRA MIDAL & THOMAS HERTOG

Friday 01 / 03 / 2013 – 07:00 pm

Cross conference of Alexandra Midal, designer specialist in history and theory, in regardness of her report

between design and Science Fiction, and Thomas Hertog, professor at l’Institut de Physique Théorique, KU

Leuven, in Belgium. The meeting will open on a conducted tour about the exhibition Space Oddity : design /

fiction at 6 :30 pm. 6€ each

The sponsors :

Grand-Hornu Images

Design et Arts appliqués Architecture et Patrimoine

Service de la Communication

Site du Grand-Hornu Rue Sainte-Louise 82 B-7301 Hornu

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www.grand-hornu.eu www.grand-hornu-images.be Heures d’ouverture : tous les jours de 10h à 18h, sauf le lundi. Prix d’entrée : - billet combiné Site du Grand-Hornu/MAC’S/ Grand-Hornu Images : 6 € - Réduction : 2€ ou 4 € - Tarif groupes (minimum 15 pers.) : 4 € - Groupes scolaires : 2 € - Gratuit pour les enfants de moins de 6 ans Visites guidées (sur réservation) des expositions et/ou du site historique (FR/NL/ALLEM/ANGL). Numéro de contact réservation : 00.32 (0) 65/61.38.81. Audio-guidage pour la découverte du site historique (FR/NL/ALLEM/ANGL/IT/ES) : 2 €

Organisation de nocturnes, accueil privilégié et événementiel. Location de salle : evelyne.fouquet@grand-hornu.be Tél : 00.32(0)476/336.182