As the third in our series “Two questions to …” with quick snapshots of the judges for the current :output competition we have talked to Dennis Paul from the University of Arts Bremen. We know Dennis for quite a while and are very happy that he agreed to be part of this years :output jury. On a side note it looks like everybody loves “Kickstarter …” …
1
Tell us something you now know that as a student you would benefit from knowing as one ponders a life in design?
My most recent and most relevant epiphany is this: Design is not ( only ) a service industry. For a very long time i was taught and brought up to believed that the designers-work-for-clients model was the only realistic one. I know now that it is, while proven to be feasable, by far not the only way to practice as a designer. As a matter of fact i believe that we are obliged, young and old, to experiment with different models and hence (re)define what it means to be a designer.
2
What is one of the, or the most exciting object(s), thing(s), design, idea(s), project you have seen or experienced recently?
In reference to the first answer and maybe a little tongue-in-cheek i would answer: KICKSTARTER. Of course there is a lot of hype involved, but i just know it is a revolution. Design/art wise it is very hard to say. I see a lot of very, very good works in my field every day. But two works that couldn t be more different still fascinated me: i am blown away by TEENAGE ENGINEERING’S “OP-1″ (not just its appearance but the very whole thing ), and also RYOTA KUWAKUBO’S “THE THENTH SENTIMENT left a lasting impression on me ( it is BTW nearly impossible to capture this work on photo or film ).
Bio Dennis Paul:
is an interaction designer, lives in Bremen and holds a professorship for »INTERAKTION UND RAUM« at HFK BREMEN. He is co-founder of the Berlin-based studio for spatial, media-related design THE PRODUCT. In his WORK he is concerned with the interaction between humans and technology and the relationship between the conceptual, the virtual, the immaterial, and the physical. His works frequently take the form of installations in public spaces, physical interfaces, and generative systems. With great passion he is researching the communicative, playful, narrative, and critical qualities of new and digital media. He strongly believes that technology must be something warm and emotional. His work has been exhibited internationally and has received various renown awards.
The :output award:
The :OUTPUT AWARD is the biggest award for students in design and architecture worldwide. All works selected by the international jury will be published in the :output yearbook and in the design magazine form. The best project of the year will be awarded the :output Grand Prix which comes with a scholarship of 3.000 Euro.
