OPENING TOKENS FOR CLIMATE CARE & MAYFLY

Tue, 19.10.2021 7 pm

MAK – Museum of Applied Arts

registration no longer possible

TOKENS FOR CLIMATE CARE
AN INSTALLATION BY PROCESS – STUDIO FOR ART AND DESIGN

The official Austrian contribution for the London Design Biennale 2021 was commissioned by the MAK and designed by Process – Studio for Art and Design. Now, the installation is on view in Vienna for the first time: Titled “Tokens for Climate Care,” the project focuses on the current and essential human task of climate care, nudged by the transformative power of design.

The project uses AI-based technology to create new and original graphic symbols based on a comprehensive database of logos, symbols and glyphs. Preliminary “labelling” of the data by the team with key terms that cover a broad definition of climate care, including its social, political, environmental and economic aspects, enables the AI model to design new symbols based on their meaning.

The new “Tokens for Climate Care” are presented in a spatial laser installation making the generated output data visible in real time. Visitors can take part in determining the meaning of the created symbols via their smartphones.

On the exhibition

Marlies Wirth, Curator Digital Culture and Design Collection, MAK

Moritz Resl, Designer, Process Studio

Martin Grödl, Designer, Process Studio

MAYFLY

FUNCTIONAL COLLAGES

With their project “Mayfly,” the young designers Anton Defant and Benjamin Nagy examine the functional potentials of discarded materials. The life cycles of the improvised “functional collages” of the Mayfly sculptures begin where objects and components have lost their original function and have returned to being material: in the waste container. Thus, drain covers transform into a shelf, a former server rack into a chair, or a former sideboard and neon lights become a flood light.

There is no planning ahead when it comes to “Mayfly,” the objects are purely defined by the elements and materials currently available. The salvaged components are re-designed using as few tools as possible and without radically changing the material. As only the means available on site are used, the designers let themselves be led by the principle of improvisation.

This approach allows them to process the discovered material quickly, autonomously, and independently and gives the objects a playful immediacy. The exhibition display draws on the metaphor of a sandbox as a place to play and experiment: Here too, material takes on form and is destroyed again, while always remaining in the cycle.

On the exhibition

Marlies Wirth, Curator Digital Culture and Design Collection, MAK

Anton Defant, Designer

Benjamin Nagy, Designer

Due to the opening of TOKENS FOR CLIMATE CARE and MAYFLY, the “2.5G” rule applies throughout the entire MAK after 6.45 p.m. (including for regular visits to the museum).

Free admission to the opening

Registration required!

The “2.5G” rule is to be observed for participation:

vaccinated, recovered, tested (PCR, not older than 48 hours)

Wearing a FFP2 mask is obligatory during the entire visit to the museum.