Lothringer13

Touch deeper

10 Dec 2016 - 05 Mar 2017

Anthony Dunne & Fiona Raby, Technological Dream Series No. 1, Robots
Keiichi Matsuda, Hyper-Reality (video still), 2016
Julien Previeux, What shall we do next? (Sequence #2)
Thomas Thwaites Toaster Project, Dunne & Rabys Faraday Chair, Worker ́s Delight von BLESS im Hintergrund
BLESS, Workoutcomputer
Thomas Thwaites Toaster Project, Dunne & Rabys Faraday Chair, Worker ́s Delight by BLESS
TOUCH DEEPER
10 December 2016 – 5 March 2017

BLESS
Oliver-Selim Boualam
Maarten Baas
Dunne & Raby
Mark Formanek
Kunstflug
Makkink & Bey
Keiichi Matsuda
Julien Prévieux
Philipp Scholz
Thomas Thwaites
Unknown Fields Division

Curated by Tanja Seiner

Digital technologies invade and shape our daily lives in many ways – whether they be PCs, telephones, wearable computers on your wrist, networked homes, self-driving cars or robotic companions. Promising comfortable and optimized daily routines, numerous smart objects have docked onto us. What are these things (or beings?) that have moved into our homes? How are the objects that surround us changing, and how are they changing us?

“Touch deeper” explores these questions with works by international designers and artists, who consider not only new technological possibilities but also the completely analog needs of our changing living spaces. They create alternative perspectives on the efficiency and intelligence of these devices and examine how we, with an increasing number of digital companions and surroundings, want to live. And they present us a glimpse into the near future, where everything around us, and we ourselves, become interfaces in a digitally enhanced reality. What becomes clear is that the scope of activities in the field of design goes beyond the functional and formal development of marketable products. As described by Dunne & Raby in the book “Design Noir,” design can provide a type of experience that Martin Amis has called a “complicated pleasure,” by creating confrontations and frictions with scenarios of present and future environments. Their “Faraday Chair” raises questions rather than offering convenient solutions. Keiichi Matsuda’s “Hyper-Reality” allows us to dive gleefully into a world saturated with information and impressions – where me may find ourselves wanting to leave again, to tweak the parameters that led us there.

Amid overwhelming technological innovations, “Touch deeper” attempts to also look at those aspects that are often ignored by the promises of a progress that has become its own end. Unknown Field Division, Thomas Thwaites or Julien Prévieux use different approaches, but all make visible the profound social, ecological and economic effects that ubiquitous electronic devices already have. Other works in the exhibition use prototypical designs to open up completely new perspectives on a digitally enhanced future, in which the interplay between technical possibilities and human needs are recalibrated. A special opportunity is provided by an installation by BLESS, which turns one part of Lothringer13 Halle into an experimental workplace, accessible to all visitors. With unexpected possibilities, “Worker’s Delight” invites you to feel yourself in the digital age and to examine what the body, chained to a desk, and the mind, bombarded by realtime information, most desires. Breathe deeper...

Realized with kind support of Panasonic und STABER Ingenieurbüro
 

Tags: Julien Prévieux