An introduction to our experimental playground…
We live in a fascinating time. An ordinary person has access to more information today than any world leader or noble prize winner ever had in the past. We are children of a time of transition: one foot in the industrial era and the other in the digital era and who knows, we may even get to experience the biotech era in which we might all stay young forever. Technology is developing faster than ever before. It’s fascinating, frightening and inspiring at the same time. Will robots be taking over all of our work within the next ten years? Or will developments in digital fabrica- tion ensure that craftsmanship and the love of the way things are made will once again be cen- tral to society? In any case, we’re on the eve of great changes. This fascination for technological developments and all the possibilities that go with it are at the heart of our Lab.
In our digital era, an unprecedented amount of visual material is being produced. So much so that, in my opinion, its value is subject to inflation. That’s why we find it important that the ideas of the Lab are actually tested and developed physically in high quality materials whenever possible. Actually making physical objects requires skill, you cannot simply think them up in your mind, even using the most advanced computers.
The physical world is unruly and beautiful for the unpredictabilities and limitations that make it necessary to experiment in order to gain con- trol over something over time. But rather than something nostalgic, craftsmanship ought to be seen as something that is always evolving and that, with the help of high-tech tools, should be central to society.
Endlessly trying, refining, improving until slowly, something begins to emerge that is so inge- nious that it looks like magic if you don’t know what went on before: that’s what evolution does. In our work, we try to capture some of that magic. Using emerging technology to work on objects and a visual language of the future, we make small leaps in that evolutionary process. This sometimes results in science fiction-like work that stimulates the imagination, and some- times in very practical suggestions that can be applied immediately. Experienced welding experts watched the development of our 3D metal printer in disbelief. What we did wasn’t sup- posed to be possible. All the settings were wrong for a proper welding process, but we needed those wrong settings to 3D print with a welding machine on a robot. A great example of how we like things to be.
Public Collections
Boymans van Beuningen, Rotterdam, NL
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, USA
Centraal Museum, Utrecht, NL
Centre Pompidou, Paris, FR
Centro de Arte Caja Burgos, Burgos, ESP
Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, New York, USA
Denver Art Museum, Denver, USA
Droog Design Collection, Amsterdam, NL
DSM art foundation, NL
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
FNAC, FR
FRAC, Nord-Pas de Calais, FR
Groninger Museum, Groningen, NL
High Museum of Art, Atlanta, USA
Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, USA
Israel Museum, Jerusalem, ISR
LACMA, Los Angeles, USA
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA
Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, USA
MoMA, New York, USA
Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal, CAN
Vitra Design Museum, Wheil am Rhein, DE
Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, FR
Museum of Fine Arts Houston, USA
Museum fur Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg, DE
Museum Kunst Paviljoen, Groningen, NL
Museum of Art and Design, New York, USA
Museum of Rouen, Rouen, FR
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, AUS
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, USA
Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Amsterdam, NL
Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Amsterdam, NL
Stedelijk Museum s’Hertogenbosch, NL
Textiel Museum Tilburg, Tilburg, NL
The Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, USA
Victoria & Albert Museum, London, UK
Joris Laarman Studio
Jobs
Friedman Benda Gallery
Friedman Benda Gallery
515 West 26th Street
New York, NY, 10001
T: 212.239.8700
Bits & Parts
Draaibank 15
1505 RN Zaandam
The Netherlands
T: +31 (0)757810011