Nouveau sensory distinctively crafted for the now and into the beyond…
Anouk Wipprecht & MONAD Studio take us on their immersive journey of sonic aesthetics and stratospheres. We throw the switch as we go On The Inside and take a revealing peek into new expressions, new sounds and new cultures.
Do you define yourselves as artists, architects or designers?
We are trained in our own disciplines, but the way our work has evolved aided by a fluid incorporation of technology defines a more open approach; one that is not shaped by any specific domain but rather it’s our own collaborative impetus that defines a new mode of expression, a new type of art that is inclusive of architecture, design, fashion, engineering, interactivity and sonic performance. The projects emerge according to our combined intent of transdisciplinary sensibility and not the other way around. The collaboration between Anouk Wipprecht and MONAD Studio | Eric Goldemberg + Veronica Zalcberg shapes new possible ways of practice beyond what each discipline can offer on its own. We don’t design dresses or buildings anymore – but we design interesting geometries that can then be applied to whatever purpose, synthetically: fashion + the body and its surroundings – an interplay where fashion meets architecture and technology.
Recognizing that as beings we are all a part of nature, there are three fundamental energies that govern our inner and outer environments; movement, transformation and structure. What is your design process and how do you integrate your design modalities and technology into a project to emote the experience?
We are constantly studying different phenomena in the natural environment and MONAD being Florida residents for many years – the studio was founded originally in New York – it is an incredible luxurious lab in terms of the complex lush ecologies that surround us. It is the gaze, the way we focus in certain specific behaviors of natural species that allows the extrapolation into art, architecture, and fashion design. We synthesize such processes with diagrams and extract a certain artificially encoded re-interpretation of what we see; therefore transforming and absorbing its capacities as generative form. Technology comes into play first allowing us to envision three-dimensionally any current obsession, calibrating it for the specific design task at hand and prototyping with 3D printers to test morphological, aesthetic and performance effects. We also do lots of sketches the old school way by hand, and use them to communicate the inner energy of the project back and forth as a techno-organic ping-pong, usually online. We operate by taking geometries that can be applied to an object, a dress, a wall, a building in order to create a new kind of design thinking. This fusion of sensibilities permeates the design throughout and lots of technical constraints are incorporated seamlessly as rules of a game we crave playing!
What is the social impact that technology has on our culture?
What we call technology and the personalized ways of utilizing it, is more relevant than any dependency on it; many different software’s are combined in a synthetic process and the more versatile we are, the more robust a project can become. Communication technology also brings us together across oceans as both Anouk and I travel constantly to partake in many exhibitions and technology festivals, so it is ultimately a mobile game, a rhythmical pursuit of the cycle of creativity using and abusing all possible devices and technical means for the higher purpose of our art.
Do you see design and or technology as a voice to transform, heal, or unite the world?
We are now collaborating on a project with the amazing bionic pop artist Viktoria Modesta and she is an inspiration to us; being an amputee she has been able to turn her disability on its head and we collaborate in this project to augment the performative capacities of Viktoria by designing a sonic bustier with tusks equipped with sensors and actuators that allow her to modulate the sound on her live performances. This device along with a sonified new prosthetic leg, furnished with an accelerometer will allow her to become the music instrument and interact spatially and sonically with an ensemble of musicians that will play MONAD’s 3D-printed sonic sculptures too! The world premiere will be soon in the Miami Design District, using Zaha Hadid’s ‘Elastika’ installation as part of the stage set for Viktoria’s performance in the atrium of The Moore Building. This is one of many possible examples of technology and creativity combined with the human will to exceed limitations and produce new meaning, intensifying some of the fundamental existential questions.
Define what human luxury means to you?
Human luxury is the capacity to combine the incredible wealth of talent and inspiration that we bring to a project like this. The sheer exuberance of aesthetic, functional, and spiritual power we are creating as a team- with Anouk and Viktoria goes beyond any precedent; fluid architecture and interactive fashion + mixing it with sound and performance generates a tremendous interdisciplinary combustion that is in excess of what anyone can produce individually or in their own creative domain. This sense of uniqueness is the real luxury.
www.anoukwipprecht.nl
www.monadstudio.com
Experience it live on October 28, 2016
Organized by the Young Artist Initiative in partnership with the Miami Design District:
Design and its Dimensions
A never before seen performance and exhibition at The Moore Building
8 p.m. – 3 a.m.
“For its next installment, YAI has carefully selected Design and its Dimensions as the conceptual base for exhibited works and installations. Design has been the force of evolution since the birth of innovation and has accompanied the development of our culture over the course of history. Its precise yet flexible nature has been the power behind our greatest civilizational advancements, from the creation of industry to the mapping of cities. All participating artists and designers are being presented with the
challenge of interpreting the exhibition’s central thesis: how do we design the fourth dimension?”
www.youngartistinitiative.com
