BASIC INSTINCTS
Inaugurated by the German Minister of Culture, Basic Instincts presented a survey of the work of over 50 Dutch designers, architects, artists, fashion designers and product creators. Commissioned by the Dutch government and borne in collaboration with Premsela, the Netherlands Institute for Design, the intention was to bring together visual artists and artisans from across boundaries, whose innovative spirit cements their status as pioneers of their fields. The exhibition bought together extraordinary participants, including Iris van Herpen, Monique van Heist, Willem de Rooij, Ari Versluis/Ellie Uyttenbroek, Ahmet Ögüt, David Jablonowski, Powerhouse Company and Doepel Strijkers Architects, to name a few.
Inherently multidisciplinary in its approach, the exhibition highlighted how Dutch design culture has incubated a conceptual approach to fashion, whereby concepts interact with art, product design and architecture. Creative Directors Sandor Lubbe and Jose Klap came together with curator Luca Marchetti from mosign to select artists to be showcased across seven modules: Perspectives, Un-designed, Soft Future, Urban Uniform, Slow Forward, Merging Pot and Panopticon. One artist from each discipline would be presented with an individual platform for their work, set within the context of a directional vision, rather than manner of execution, to convey how their practise feeds into all three art forms. To translate this thought into the space, fashion designer, musician and artist Henrik Vibskov designed immersive exhibition spaces to emphasise the essence of each module.
In addition to shaping the concept and its execution, DutcH Studio devised a 24-page newspaper to accompany the showcase, and a digital brochure to provide interactive content for attendants using an iPad App. The exhibition opened in Villa Elisabeth in Berlin before traveling to major cities worldwide, including Shanghai and Istanbul.