after abundance

Austrian Contribution, London Design Biennale 2018, Emotional States

For the London Design Biennale 2018 – taking place from 4 to 23 September at Somerset House – students from Design Investigations, a five year diploma program at the University of Applied Arts Vienna, led by Professor Anab Jain, present a speculative installation curated by Thomas Geisler.

The second London Design Biennale will see the presentations of more than thirty nations from six continents in Somerset House in London. The participating countries are focusing on key themes encapsulated in the motto ‘Emotional States’, the main challenges facing our society at present: sustainability, migration, environmental pollution, general availability of water and social equality.

In the Austrian contribution the students investigate the opportunities, as well as the tensions and unintended consequences of a complex and contradictory world. They create tools, tactics, strategies, stories, actions, instruments and systems that aspire to be pioneering, transformative and stimulating, but also inclusive and full of humility.

Transporting visitors to an Austria contending with the stark realities of climate change, they demonstrate how those who live in this world face down new challenges with tradition and technology, using craft and cunning to thrive in an altered landscape. Visitors will experience the emotional tensions of this altered Austria through first-hand experiments, legal hacks, protest rituals, performances and atmospheric soundscape.

The contribution is a cooperative venture between the Werkraum Bregenzerwald and the Vienna University of Applied Arts, commissioned by the Austrian Federal Chancellery / Section II – Art and Culture.

http://www.londondesignbiennale.com/countries/austria/2018