curated lectures

WHAT IF YOU HAVE NO CLUE HOW TO START YOUR PRACTICE: LEARN FROM THE TRIAL & ERROR OF STUDIO DRIFT!

Studio DRIFT

Forensic Architecture is a multidisciplinary research group based at the University of London that uses architectural techniques and technologies to investigate cases of state violence and violations of human rights around the world.

NERI OXMAN

From tree bark and crustacean shells to silkworm webs and human breath, nature shapes Neri Oxman’s innovative design and production processes. As a designer, architect, and founding director of The Mediated Matter Group at the MIT Media Lab, Oxman has developed not only new ways of thinking about materials, objects, buildings, and construction methods, but also new frameworks for interdisciplinary—and even interspecies—collaborations.

FERNANDO LAPOSSE

HELGA SMID

Uchronia is a platform for critical and imaginative thought on the contemporary time crisis, challenging current perceptions, and offering alternative ways of being in time. Uchronia explores the multifaceted nature of time in an academic and public context.

Dr Helga Schmid is the founder of the Uchronia platform. She opens up a new world of temporality (lived time) situated at the intersection of design, sociology and chronobiology.

Studio DRIFT

BC ARCHITECTS & STUDIES

BC architects benefits from the knowledge created through BC studies, its lab for social, material and architectural innovation, where we have built up extensive research on local materials and innovative building processes.

ROTOR

Rotor is a cooperative design practice that investigates the organisation of the material environment. We develop critical positions through research and design. Besides projects in architecture and interior design, we also produce exhibitions, books, economic models and policy proposals.

OLAFUR ELIASSON

The team at Studio Olafur Eliasson consists of craftsmen and specialized technicians, architects, archivists and art historians, web and graphic designers, film-makers, cooks, and administrators. They work with Eliasson to develop, produce, and install artworks, projects, and exhibitions, as well as on experimentation, archiving, research, publishing, and communications.

FORENSIC ARCHITECTURE

IRAKLI SABEKIA

Irakli uses experience as a tool to enter a dialogue with the viewer and create a meaningful encounter, which enables not merely new knowledge but rather understanding of the issues which he addresses. Spatial installations, experiences and object interactions aim to demonstrate an alternative viewpoint and trigger thought, through a process he calls the ‘design of insights’.

SPACE10

SPACE10 is a research and design lab on a mission to create a better everyday life for people and planet. Space10 is supported by Ikea

ALEJANDRO ARAVENA

Alejandro Aravena is a Chilean architect known for his socially conscious building projects that attempt to break down economic inequality in urban areas.

ASSEMBLE STUDIO

Assemble is a multi-disciplinary collective working across architecture, design and art. Founded in 2010 to undertake a single self-built project, Assemble has since delivered a diverse and award-winning body of work, whilst retaining a democratic and co-operative working method that enables built, social and research-based work at a variety of scales, both making things and making things happen.

Disarming Design from Palestine

With Disarming Design we want to empower the political and emancipatory impact of design and feed educational models to reinforce this. As such we reflect upon the possibilities of creative production in situations of oppression and view design as a strategy for resilience. How can design contribute to a more sustainable society and human-centered economy? How can design practices function as an instrument for social transformation and emancipation?

FORMAFANTASMA ORE STREAMS

The Ore Streams website presents a study led by Studio Formafantasma on the current state of e-waste management. The website collects the research outcomes and compiles an archive of documents, videos, books and articles on the topic.

FORMAFANTASMA - CAMBIO

Cambio is an ongoing investigation conducted by Studio Formafantasma into the extraction, production and distribution of wood products, commissioned by Serpentine Galleries. The website collects the research outcomes and compiles an archive of documents, videos, books and articles on the topic.

STUDIO UNFOLD

What is the role of the designer and how is it changing in a time when design and manufacturing become increasingly more digitized? This question is key to understanding the work of design studio Unfold. The studio, founded in 2002 by Claire Warnier and Dries Verbruggen after they graduated from the Design Academy Eindhoven, develops projects that investigate new ways of creating, manufacturing, financing and distributing in a changing context.

HENRIETTE WAAL

Henriette Waal is artistic research director of Atelier Luma, a design research lab in Arles in south of France. At Atelier Luma she is leading a field work research in Mediterannean Wetlands, focused on creating a design network that is maker-driven and maker-led, connecting local designers, scientists, farmers and institutes using social design as a tool for transition.

Fernando Laposse specialises in transforming humble natural materials into refined design pieces. He has worked extensively with overlooked plant fibers.

His works are the result of extensive research which culminates into objects of “endemic design” where materials and their historical and cultural ties to a particular location and its people take center stage. He often works with indigenous communities in his native Mexico to create local employment opportunities and raise awareness about the challenges they face in a globalised world.

SUPERLOCAL // ANDREA DE CHIRICO

SUPERLOCAL, 0 miles production is a global network for artist-makers that share an attitude. We envision a world where as the robots are taking care of mass-production, the humans are dedicated to self-production. Therefore, by enjoying the great digital and analogical tools that are available, we make the everyday-life objects we need.

THOMAS THWAITES - TOASTER PROJECT

It takes an entire civilization to build a toaster. Designer Thomas Thwaites found out the hard way, by attempting to build one from scratch: mining ore for steel, deriving plastic from oil ... it's frankly amazing he got as far as he got. A parable of our interconnected society, for designers and consumers alike.

THOMAS LOMMEE * OPEN STRUCTURES

OpenStructures is an exploration on open modular1 construction where anyone2 designs for everyone on the basis of one shared grid. OS generates parts that are widely interchangeable, objects that allow infinite adaption and repair, and a more sustainably built environment. OS is about imagining solutions together at a moment in time in which resources are becoming increasingly scarce and change is the new status quo, in which everybody is connected to everybody and everything can be produced everywhere.

ALEXANDRA DAISY GINSBERG - DESIGNING NATURE

Lecture based on his book The Craftsman. “Good craftsmanship” stands for work of good quality. What sort of work is this in the digital era? The lecture explores this question in three domains: the acquisition of craft skills, learning from others in workshops, and technical supports and barriers to doing good work.

RICHARD SENNETT - THE GOOD CRAFTSMAN

Marina Abramovic, An Art Made of Trust, Vulnerability and Connection

Jan Boelen - Design as learning