Laboratory 2012

The Laboratory is all about interdisciplinary and process-oriented work positioned between graphic design and product design. Once again this year it is guesting in the project space Karlsplatz of the Vienna Kunsthalle. It was an excellent occasion for us to give the Laboratory a dazzling, multicoloured setting with „Art Robert Wilson“ created by the carpet manufacturers and Laboratory sponsor Vorwerk. Inside, invited designers from both disciplines pursue their ideas on the spot, react to each other, possibly cooperate and present their results on-site as well. The Laboratory is a workshop, office and exhibition space all in one. So the public mustn’t be shy: watching, asking questions and experiencing processes on the spot are not only permitted, but requested! Furthermore, all designers and other guests will introduce themselves and their work in one of the Laboratory talks.

Work theme of the Laboratory 2012: Pretty Ugly

Both users and the brains behind design solutions are increasingly dissatisfied when confronted by a uniform lifestyle and superficial prettiness. Designers frequently see themselves forced into the role of mere stylists and encounter what is “beautiful” with scepticism; they react with criticism, subversion and antitheses. With the working title of “Pretty Ugly” (borrowed from the book by Two-Points.Net, published by Gestalten 2012), this year’s Laboratory aims to take the strategies applied here as its key theme – for instance, designers might take inspiration from everyday culture and trash, smuggle in lost and found objects that are seemingly broken, unfinished or badly made or make use of flaws and errors as productive disturbances. It seems certain that design under these auspices generates not only points of friction but also gains in human dimension.

Curators: Neigungsgruppe Design and Erwin K. Bauer
Design: Robert Rüf (AT)