Digital technology has irreversibly changed how we see, think and act. A staggering number of us spend half our waking hours online. Right now, more people are gazing at a screen than looking out a window. But a deeper symbiotic relationship with the digital does not quash the desire for a tactile, physically immersive experience. Touch screens don't eliminate the need to touch something more palpable than an electronic visual display.
It's in this context that today's 'postdigital artisans' operate. Inescapably influenced by the digital world, they nonetheless reject strictly screen-based design and total reliance on automated production, such as 3D printing. They advocate a return to craft, with objects made from clay, metal, glass and wood. They neither turn their backs on technology nor glorify nostalgia, but their high-tech honeymoon is over. They see materials as the heart of art, design, fashion and architecture.
Postdigital Artisans profiles 60 contemporary artists and designers, accompanied by rich illustrations of their work. Essays and interviews by and with leading figures such as Hans Ulrich Obrist, Nathan Jurgenson and Glenn Adamson deftly analyse all forms of postdigital creativity, from visual art and design to architecture and urban planning.
Introduction by Jonathan Openshaw
Interview with Hans Ulrich Obrist
Forces
Alyson Shotz
Carnovsky
Eno Henze
Geoffrey Mann
Hicham Berrada
Jólan van der Wiel
Ned Kahn
Nobuhiro Nakanishi
Sungfeel Yun
The Unseen
Essay Liam Young
Bodies
Anders Krisár
Barry X Ball
Bart Hess
Gehard Demetz
Jaume Plensa
Li Hongbo
Maiko Takeda
Marilene Oliver
Richard Dupont
Sruli Recht
Essay Daniel Miller
Surfaces
Aldo Tolino
Amy Brener
Crabtree and Evans
Jonathan Zawada
Katja Novitskova
Michael Staniak
Rachel de Joode
Robert Seidel
Tomá Libertíny
Troika
Essay Sarah Williams
Particles
Aranda\Lasch
Claire Morgan
Katie Lewis
Kohei Nawa
Luke Jerram
Nathalie Miebach
Nucleo
Phillip Stearns
Seon Ghi Bahk
Thaddeus Wolfe
Essay Nathan Jurgenson
Matter
Daniel Arsham
Flavie Audi
Henrique Oliveira
Jeroen Verhoeven
Joseph Walsh
Junko Mori
Matter Design
Rogan Brown
Tokujin Yoshioka
Zhan Wang
Essay Glenn Adamson
Structures
Art+Com Studios
Chiharu Shiota
David DiMichele
Do Ho Suh
Jeongmoon Choi
Loop.pH
Numen/For Use
Roxy Paine
ilvinas Kempinas
Zimoun
Essay Mark Foster Gage
Index
Credits