ExperimentaDesign Amsterdam 2008 highlights urban culture as the playground for the global citizen. The world’s cities are not only home to over half of the world’s population, they are also a metaphor for today’s cultures and a testing ground for new forms of conviviality and interaction. Throughout its three core exhibitions, the Biennale turns the spotlight on innovative urban design as a process of social action, exchanges and experiment.
One of the major events is the droog event 2: urban play, the amsterdam route which brings together international creatives to put together 13 newly designed interventions along the central IJ-riverfront, organized by droog design and curator scott burnham.
Sagmeister inc., was one of the urban play participants with ‘obsessions make my life worse and my work better’, an installation of 300,000 euro cent coins which have been laid out on a 20 x 42 square meter area. drawing the phrase from one of his old diaries, a team of eight painstakinglyplaced each of the coins down to create the visual aesthetic which stefan sagmeister is known for, the use of calligrahy and modern typography with floral embellishments that give the feeling of old script in a contemporary context. with coins representing a certain value, the beauty of the design challenges the passer-by. will they leave the piece in tact because of its beauty? will they take the coins and create their own design in response the the work? or will greed take over?
And the second day, what had happened to these 300,000 euro coins?? Lost!
