Design CommissionsDesign Commissions

Koos Breen developed the graphic and spatial design of For The Record, a long-term study of contemporary video culture as a public space for activism, commerce and emancipation.

Koos Breen's involvement in the For The Record research project started with designing the setting for a series of debate evenings about contemporary video culture. "Actually, I don't really like contemporary music videos," admits Breen. "My particular interest in this assignment was the debates would be filmed. My work often investigates the translation of three-dimensional objects into two-dimensional images and vice versa." He also applied this principle to For The Record. The project had a very short deadline, so he asked Jeannette Slütter for assistance. "She's a visual artist who makes performative installations where the viewer contributes through executing various actions."

The evenings, which functioned as performed research, took place in Het Nieuwe Instituut's Research Centre, a two-floor space with a large void in the middle. "The assignment specified we enable interaction between the speakers, the experts, and the audience," says Breen. "We constructed a film setting, resulting in multi-layered video images, in an attempt to translate the different research perspectives into the use of materials and shapes and their placement in space." Part of the audience was on the second floor, looking down onto the film set from above, as if in an arena.

The design features elements derived from video production techniques. "We designed seating elements that we partly covered with photos and combined with green screens. The set featured quotes from the respective evening's speakers, which were taken from their preliminary discussions with the moderator. The production employees and the organisers wore specially designed clothing, thus emphasising the partly scripted nature of the events."

The research project concluded with the presentation of Set Stage Screen: Realities of Postproduction in the foyer of Het Nieuwe Instituut. "This is where everything came together: the graphic and spatial elements we developed and the videos of the debates," explains Breen. The installation consisted of three large volumes - a set, stage and screen - presenting early music videos, a series of video essays and examples of stage designs for pop concerts and set designs for TV shows. One of the volumes served as a stage for live interviews, which were documented and given a place in the presentation. One wall consisted of a green screen, and visitors could use an AR app to call up videos about post-production techniques.

The For The Record graphic identity also references video production. Breen employed typography derived from the interface of a video camera. The interface's characters and markings returned in the installation's video images, communications and spatial elements. The accumulation of all these design elements - both 3-D and 2-D - and the fact that conferences took place in the installation that they were later incorporated into, created a complex and dynamic environment of layers and references. .

_For the Record_ investigates how contemporary video culture operates as a public space for consumerism, activism and emancipation, by exposing existing realities and by imagining alternatives.

Koos Breen (1984) is an interdisciplinary designer and artist based in The Hague. His work spans graphic design, objects and spatial installations; both commissioned and autonomous. He investigates the boundaries of the various disciplines and expands them to their limits. Breen fluidly transitions between the roles of art director, designer and artist. He barely distinguishes between his artistic practice and commissioned projects. He merges different worlds while imagining how objects and forms can function within various disciplines, scenes and environments.

Artist Jeannette Slütter (1988) creates site-responsive installations and situations. Her work emerges from the location and contains elements that echo or define the space. Her work strives to embody rather than emphasise the architecture. Slütter interrogates how objects are chosen and the context, circumstances and interrelationships in which they are displayed. She fashions minimal interventions in materials such as ceramics, prints and commonplace objects. In doing so, she creates a choreography in which the visitors and the exhibition's duration play a significant role. During presentation, the objects often change place or shape, creating continually evolving situations.

Website Koos Breen

Website jeannette slütter