This 18thedition of Toegepast brings together six young individuals. At first sight, the work of these six designers may seem a little thougtful, but more than ever before they all have both feet on the ground in our modern reality. One by one, these young talents address exciting and deep social problems. This allows them to make the virtual real, and the hidden visible.
Giacomo Piovan presents a technological system in which nature can once again become our future industry. It is Henry Baumann’s objective to address the state of our planet by giving new life to waste. In the work of Mattijs Brands sustainability is also a key concept: he advocates an architecture that can continuously be adapted in subtle ways to meet the needs of the era. The other three designers question the technological evolution of our society. Pieter-Jan Pieters wants to help people to consciously choose for an offline life, in order to allow our human, real social life to once again gain the upper hand. Isa Tez also views her installation as an invitation of the audience to escape the hectic outside world, and to once more contemplate its own life. Finally, Mats Horbach who wishes to offer a counterbalance to the technological revolution by showcasing the wondrousness of things such as the functioning of radio. In this way he aims to stimulate people to start re-using their imagination, which according to Horbach, is sorely needed these days.
Coaches Caro Van den hole and Kaspar Hamacher visually translated the fact that the project floats between the virtual and reality through their staging. The thin wooden panels, suspended by means of copper pipes and black threads, literally create a background allowing the designers to tell their stories. In order to let them make the invisible visible.
Toegepast 18 is: Henry Baumann, Mattijs Brands, Mats Horbach, Pieter-Jan Pieters, Giacomo Piovan, and Isa Tez. Find out more about their projects for Toegepast by reading their biographies.
http://toegepast18.wordpress.com
special thanks to Kristof Vrancken en Kahil Janssens