Design Commissions
Research and design studio Metahaven was founded by Vinca Kruk and Daniël van der Velden. Metahaven's work - whether self-initiated or commissioned - reflects political and social issues and therefore occupies the territory between politics and aesthetics. For Het Nieuwe Instituut they made a video and web cover for Benjamin Bratton's Benno Premsela Lecture in 2015 and designed the publication Total Space.
Metahaven: 'We do not recognise the polarity of the social versus the aesthetic. It is possible to create design that pushes the boundaries in formal terms while also addressing political issues. Design has a history of simplification; minimalism has had the upper hand. By contrast, we seek complexity. We think it's interesting that design can take the form of a website, a book, a film, an article or a lecture. For us, form is content, and content is form. You could see our work as a form of resistance, reinforcing an oppositional voice with visual material. But you can also see it as a way of understanding how the world is changing in a period in which technology and politics are closely linked.'*_ (From an interview with Yvonne Zonderop for De Groene Amsterdammer, 2014, in Dutch)_
Benno Premsela Lecture 2015
The Benno Premsela Lecture 2015 was given by sociologist, architecture and design theorist Benjamin Bratton. Bratton's lecture examined the consequences of the widespread digitalisation for our cities. He sketched the way in which cities could develop in relation to algorithmic perception, sensory perception, cognition and physical automation. 'What we currently rank under the term "artificial intelligence" will not only transform in what is deemed "thinking", but also in terms of architecture, design, politics and programming.'
Video and effects by Metahaven. Thanks to the Royal Academy of Science, EngageTV and Beam Systems
Total Space - Volume #50
The Jaap Bakema Study Centre published the insert Total Space in the 50th edition of Volume, which is based on two research workshops organized in 2015. Total Space investigates the international dimensions of Structuralism, cross-disciplinary exchange, and aims to connect recent history with speculations on the future of our lifestyles. With contributions by Tom Avermaete, M. Christine Boyer, Benjamin H. Bratton, Femke Herregraven, Ellen Smit, Laurent Stalder, Richard Vijgen, Victor M. Sanz and Dirk van den Heuvel.
- Download: Total Space - Volume #50