Kiosk

Kiosk is a project that explores a near future scenario in which digital fabricators are so ubiquitous, that we see them appear on street corners, just like fast food today is sold in NY style mobile food stalls. A place where you can quickly get a custom made fix for your broken shoe, materialise an illegal download of Starck’s Juicy Salif orange squeezer, that you modified for better performance or quickly print out a present for your sisters birthday.

How does this scenario challenge our perception of authorship, originality, design and what is the role of the designer when goods are moved around in the form of digital blueprints and appropriated in ways beyond our control?

Kiosk is a project that explores a near future scenario in which digital fabricators are so ubiquitous, that we see them appear on street corners, just like fast food today is sold in NY style mobile food stalls. A place where you can quickly get a custom made fix for your broken shoe, materialise an illegal download of Starck’s Juicy Salif orange squeezer, that you modified for better performance or quickly print out a present for your sisters birthday.

How does this scenario challenge our perception of authorship, originality, design and what is the role of the designer when goods are moved around in the form of digital blueprints and appropriated in ways beyond our control?

Kiosk 1.0 was commissioned for the Salone del Mobile 2011 in Milan and part of the exhibition New Times, New Heroes, organised by Z33 - House of contemporary art and REcentre - centre for sustainable design.

Leading up to the Salone del Mobile, Unfold gathered information from various designers and labels about how they position themselves towards this scenario. During the Salone del Mobile, Unfold cycled around and three-dimensionally scanned the new objects presented by these various designers. Based on the acquired data new objects were created by sampling, remixing, improving, up/downscaling or straight copying. These appropriations were 3d-printed and displayed for sale on the spot.

Unfold created a brand new Kiosk 2.0 for the exhibition After the Bit Rush, Design in a Post-Digital Age organized during the Dutch Design Week 2011 at MU Artspace in Eindhoven.

The Kiosk project was nominated for the Designs of the Year 2013 awards issued by Design Museum London. The project sparked some controversy by presenting 3D-printed copies of three of the other finalists' pieces. Even Tate Museum entered the debate.

Kiosk 1.0 & 2.0 were produced with the kind support of Z33, REcentre, MU Eindhoven, Bits from Bytes (BfB3000 3d printer), 4D Dynamics (PicoScan 3d scanner), Polhemus (FastSCAN 3d scanner), Kai Parthy (Laywood filament), Jo Van Bostraeten (bicycle parts) and OpenStructures. 

Inspired by Bruce Sterling’s science fiction story Kiosk. In 2011 Bruce Sterling in turn wrote an essay for Domus Magazine on Unfold's Kiosk project and the cross-contamination between design and science fiction.