Onomatopee in London

Text from Design.nl by Gabrielle Kennedy:

Disillusion as a lifestyle

Where do we go in a time when technocrats and their global economic policies
overrule our local, ineffective political systems? Intensely live the
disillusion of this day and age, says Freek Lomme, Founder/Director of
Onomatopee, an institution for reflection and communication which aims to
question our designed culture.

We might be a long way from changing the course of global policies but we can,
at least within our daily lives, produce our cultural politics differently.
“We need to overcome our primal urge to be comfortable,” Lomme says. “We
need to dare to acknowledge that our assumed reality is an illusion and dare
to experience this illusion."

Onomatopee is taking this proposition to London in the forthcoming talk &
exhibition “The Comfort Zone & Disillusion.” The event features four
outspoken designers from Eindhoven who apply these strategies: DIY event
stylists heyheyhey, surreal architect Willem Claassen, hedonistic ecologist
Nacho Cabonell and bottom-up urban-carthographer Jozua Zaagman.

“This series tries to zoom in on the actual conduct of four practitioners
who expand upon experiences, who allow deeper experiences,” says Lomme. The
present corrupted financial economy fed on experiences of well-being, on the
expectations of luxury, holidays, travel, physical fitness, etc. The
electorate wants to uphold national systems of welfare and wellbeing.
Populist politicians gladly cater to these crowds.

“We need to start to act progressively by acknowledging the global
framework,” says Lomme.  “We have to break through barriers.  Heyheyhey,
Willem Claassen, Nacho Carbonell and Jozua Zaagman very much propose such
worthwhile perspectives here and now, elaborating their morals via technical
capacities that effectively stimulate new thought and actual relations.
Economic recession doesn’t equal cultural recession but allows culture to
manifest its worth. Now is the time to playfully enact durable design, and
social design. There will be risks, there will be an economic crisis, but we will relate with dignity and, for sure, lot’s of joy!”

• Comfort Zone & Disillusion - Exhibition, talk and launch
• Presented by Onomatopee in collaboration with The Royal College of Arts, hosted by So Far the Future
• Talk, launch and opening: Friday 24th of February, 20:00
• Location: 44 Emerald Street London, WC1N 3LH

Via: Design.nl