Designing the SurfaceDesigning the Surface

Curator & concept Chris Kabel was born in Bloemendaal, the Netherlands in 1975. He graduated in 2001 from the Design Academy Eindhoven. In 2002 he moved to Rotterdam where he started his design practice. He works for and with design labels, architects, cultural institutions and design galleries. He is a professor at the Ecole Cantonale d'Art in Lausanne (ECAL). During his career he has been nominated for and received several design prizes, such as the DOEN Material Prize in 2009 for his Seam Chair and Bench project. In this exhibition, Chris Kabel contextualises his research on finishes as a fellow of Het Nieuwe Instituut.

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Spatial design Monadnock is a Rotterdam-based practice producing architecture. Monadnock designs, researches, writes and produces discourse in the fields of architecture, urbanism, interior and staging, shifting in scale between the space of the city and the street to the scale of the interior. Monadnock creates contemporary buildings that embed architecture in the cultural production of their generation as a whole. By examining key themes such as the contemporary and tradition, convention and banality, constructive logic and illusionary representation, Monadnock aims for an architecture that combines beauty, efficiency and the transfer of architectural knowledge.

Monadnock was founded in 2006 by Job Floris and Sandor Naus. Both trained as interior- and furniture designer during their studies at the Academy of Fine Arts St. Joost in Breda (NL) and subsequently graduated from the Academy for Architecture and Urbanism in Rotterdam and Tilburg.

Monadnock received international attention for realizing tailor-made buildings, many of which are public. These include a beach pavilion on the River Maas, a huge installation called 'Make No Little Plans', and a Landmark - or viewing tower - for the municipality of Nieuw Bergen (NL). Currently, Monadnock is involved in projects on several scales, including a new visitors' centre for De Hoge Veluwe National Park (NL), a private tower-residence and two substantial housing projects.

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Graphic design OK-RM is an independent studio based in London, founded in 2008 by Oliver Knight & Rory McGrath. Building a reputation through a distinctive perspective on design and art direction within contemporary art, culture and commerce. A dedicated content driven approach with a grounding in conceptual thinking form the essential foundations of the studio.

Recent commissions include the exhibition design and campaign for _Fear and Love_ (Design Museum), visual identities for Manus X Machina (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York), the British Pavilion in Venice, and _Under the Same Sun_ (Guggenheim, New York) as well as book projects with artists Fos and Shezad Dawood. Our ongoing collaboration with the REAL Foundation continues with the creative direction of REAL Review now in its second issue. Between 2011-15 the studio was responsible for the visual identity and creative direction of the Strelka Institute.

In early 2015, OK-RM founded InOtherWords, a publishing imprint creating books and other printed matter in close collaboration with artists, writers, galleries and other cultural protaganists. Rory McGrath and Oliver Knight have acted as visiting critics and participated in numerous international conferences on design related subjects including; Werkplaats Typografie, Whitechapel Gallery, RISD, ECAL, Elisava and REDO.

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Artist Thomas Trum (1989) graduated in 2010 from the Sint Lucas-college and in 2014 from Design Academy Eindhoven. He is currently concentrating on experiments with various kinds of paint, ink, and with processing techniques in and outside his studio.

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Curator & concept Koehorst in 't Veld is an editorial design practice that produces exhibitions, books, concepts and research for museums, publishers and other institutions. The founders Jannetje in 't Veld and Toon Koehorst have a background in both the arts and theoretical studies. Their interest in history, place and the mechanics of display are a driving force behind their work.

Over the years they have worked on and researched the production of knowledge in a series of international artist-in-residencies, notably in Beijing and Berlin. In both 2014 and 2015 they were awarded the Deutsche Architektur Museum Architectural Book Award. Koehorst in 't Veld have designed and co-curated previous exhibitions at Het Nieuwe Instituut on materials: WOOD and GLASS.

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Photography Taisuke Koyama, born in 1978 in Tokyo, Japan is a visual artist whose primary interest is in the process of how things change and the natural phenomenon of the city. Recent solo exhibitions include: 'Rainbow Waves,' G/P gallery, Tokyo (2013); 'Rainbow Variations & Other Works,' Metronom, Modena (2013); and 'NEW LIGHT' Sunday Gallery, Zurich, (2015). He has also conceived installations for the Setouchi International Art Festival, Shodo Island (2013) and Daegu Photo Biennale 2012, 'Photography is Magic!' Daegu (2012). He currently lives and works in Amsterdam.

Artist Lex Pott (1985) graduated cum laude in 2009 from the Design Academy Eindhoven and is based in Rotterdm. In his work he uses a raw, intuitive approach to return to the source of the materials he uses most: wood, steel and metal.

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Artist Maxime Guyon is an artist and commercial photographer currently living and working between Paris and Lausanne. Guyon graduated with honours from ECAL. His modernist, sharp and colourful images concentrate on the technological evolutions in modern society.

Aliki van der Kruijs graduated in 2012 in Applied Arts at Sandberg Insituut after completing the bachelor Fashion Design at ArtEZ in 2007. She works with a conceptual approach in various fields of art and design based on her interest in natural processes and elements such as weather, light and colour.

After researching (artificial)light and the influence of daylight in the working environment Van der Kruijs developed Daylit, a series of textile objects that distribute light more evenly through space. They consist of a monolayer of microscopic pieces of glass treated by hand with transparent ink to emphasise the retro-reflexive quality. Due to its rhythmic texture, the product looks unique from every angle, allowing the onlooker to bathe in a glow rather like sunlight.
For this exhibition the Daylit material has been developed further, inspired by microscopic images of the 'Vantablack' that is displayed in the support structure on which the Daylit material is applied.

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