Freak Show: Strategies for (Dis)engagement in Design is a selling exhibition, curated by Sophie Lovell, at the Helmrinderknecht Contemporary Design Gallery in Berlin. The show runs from 13 November 2010 to 15 January 2011 and presents a selection of objects by international designers that challenge the status quo and think differently about the world.
These designers are the “freaks”, the conceptual thinkers, the lateral thinkers, the revolutionaries, explorers, inventors, activists and anarchists, that challenge use to think beyond various norms. Freak Show presents a selection of work that challenges the viewer to confront and reassess their own preconceptions about design.
Dunne & Raby design to promote a discussion about the “social, cultural and ethical implications of existing and emerging technologies”. Jurgey Bey and Rianne Makkink analyse the real qualities and hidden phenomena, as well as cultural and emotional meanings, of the things around us to provoke discussion about the value of the contemporary production process. Meanwhile Martí Guixé calls himself an “ex-designer” and works with the “contemporary parameters of consumerism” where function is more important than shape and material. Mathieu Lehanneur discovers new functional potentials by exploring the interfaces between the techno and the biosphere.
The underlying function of the exhibition is to make visitors think about what the world would be like if we were more open to and accepting of change.
