http://cargocollective.com The Black Cube Fri, 02 Sep 2011 21:16:46 +0000 http://cargocollective.com en http://cargocollective.com/blackcube/THE-VIDEOS http://cargocollective.com/blackcube/following/blackcube/THE-VIDEOS Fri, 02 Sep 2011 21:16:46 +0000 The Black Cube 1949567 © 2010. Krings, Pfaff, Unteidig var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-25510055-1']); _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); (function() { var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })(); © 2010. Krings, Pfaff, Unteidig http://cargocollective.com/blackcube/ABOUT-THE-BLACK-CUBE http://cargocollective.com/blackcube/following/blackcube/ABOUT-THE-BLACK-CUBE Fri, 02 Sep 2011 12:00:50 +0000 The Black Cube 1947513 It is black – deep and mysterious. It is cubic – shiny on every side with sharp edges, it has the most rational and most perfect shape. It is nicely crafted – high-quality materials, premium finish, beautiful and elegant, pure class. Its versatility is endless – the word »omnifunctional« would have to be invented to best describe its usefulness that is boldly asking you to just start dreaming and then turn this thing into whatever you might desire it to be. It is what we all have secretly been waiting for, for such a long time – an overdue revelation, peak and condign conclusion of the process of modernization. <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/122385/1947513/cube_raum_small2.jpg" width="600" height="400" width_o="600" height_o="400" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/122385/1947513/cube_raum_small2_o.jpg" data-mid="9654613" border="0" align="left"/> The Black Cube in its first appearance in New York 2010 &#9835; The Soundscape.mp3 &nbsp;Play Therefore it is hardly surprising that THE BLACK CUBE had already been considered a design classic when it was first revealed to a broader audience in New York in December 2010. World-famous designers and intellectuals had given it their recognition months ago by that time, praising it as one of those rare cultural achievements that are capable of embodying the spirit and essence of a whole historical age, ushering in a new era that has yet to be defined. <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/122385/1947513/fashion0017_1_32_600.png" width="600" height="337" width_o="1440" height_o="810" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/122385/1947513/fashion0017_1_32_o.png" data-mid="9673413" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/122385/1947513/fashion0035_33_600.png" width="600" height="337" width_o="1440" height_o="810" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/122385/1947513/fashion0035_33_o.png" data-mid="9673421" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/122385/1947513/fashion0088_34_600.png" width="600" height="337" width_o="1440" height_o="810" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/122385/1947513/fashion0088_34_o.png" data-mid="9673428" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/122385/1947513/fashion0093_35_600.png" width="600" height="337" width_o="1440" height_o="810" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/122385/1947513/fashion0093_35_o.png" data-mid="9673442" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/122385/1947513/fashion157_36_600.png" width="600" height="337" width_o="1440" height_o="810" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/122385/1947513/fashion157_36_o.png" data-mid="9673443" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/122385/1947513/fashion7244_37_600.png" width="600" height="337" width_o="1440" height_o="810" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/122385/1947513/fashion7244_37_o.png" data-mid="9673446" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/122385/1947513/fashion7285_38_600.png" width="600" height="337" width_o="1440" height_o="810" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/122385/1947513/fashion7285_38_o.png" data-mid="9673451" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/122385/1947513/IMG_0040_39_600.png" width="600" height="337" width_o="1440" height_o="810" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/122385/1947513/IMG_0040_39_o.png" data-mid="9673455" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/122385/1947513/power0052_1_41_600.png" width="600" height="337" width_o="1440" height_o="810" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/122385/1947513/power0052_1_41_o.png" data-mid="9673456" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/122385/1947513/power0059_42_600.png" width="600" height="337" width_o="1440" height_o="810" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/122385/1947513/power0059_42_o.png" data-mid="9673458" border="0" align="left"/>Photographer: Paul Gisbrecht. THE BLACK CUBE was created by an anonymous collective of German designers who's agenda is to develop radical design solutions for a sustainable future in a setting that is unaffected by the common competitive constraints they are faced with in their day-to-day professional activities. Relying on the results of years of creative research and innovative theoretical thinking, THE BLACK CUBE is their vision of what they believe to be the perfect product. In early 2010, the collective got into contact with three students of the Köln International School of Design, Manuel Krings, Marc Pfaff and Andreas Unteidig and asked them to find ways of promoting their idea and explaining it to a larger audience. This is how the concept for THE BLACK CUBE's first public presentation as part of a show called »The Present« came about. Hosted by Parsons The New School for Design's Gallery on 5th Avenue, the one-of-a-kind exhibition claimed to be nothing less than a display of what the design of the future would ideally look like – a design that, in the double meaning of the show's title, would ultimately be able to solve our present's urgent problems and thus could tell us of the beneficial gift that design has to offer to the world. <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/122385/1947513/erlhoff_scary.jpg" width="600" height="448" width_o="600" height_o="448" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/122385/1947513/erlhoff_scary_o.jpg" data-mid="9672903" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/122385/1947513/raum_neu.jpg" width="600" height="400" width_o="600" height_o="400" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/122385/1947513/raum_neu_o.jpg" data-mid="9672905" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/122385/1947513/DSC_0272_small_3.jpg" width="600" height="402" width_o="600" height_o="402" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/122385/1947513/DSC_0272_small_3_o.jpg" data-mid="9672977" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/122385/1947513/DSC_0320_small_4.jpg" width="600" height="402" width_o="600" height_o="402" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/122385/1947513/DSC_0320_small_4_o.jpg" data-mid="9672981" border="0" align="left"/> In which way THE BLACK CUBE is a superb example of such virtue became almost immediately clear upon entering the exhibition. Stepping into its showroom one could already sense a sublime atmosphere. Sacral sounds were filling the air between black molleton walls and right in the middle, on a low and seemingly floating pedestal stringed with cream white silk, stood the cube, appearing unpretentious, yet subtly grand. At the right-hand wall, a portfolio with black metal covers showed stylish fashion photographs in which beautiful women in elegant dresses and half-naked muscular men were posing with the object. Next to this hung a screen that showed different possibilities of how the cube could be used, such as for serving or preparing food, employing it as an ashtray, a stool, a fetish object or an altar. »Its versatility is endless …« (Steven Heller). <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/122385/1947513/IMG_0014_5_600.png" width="600" height="337" width_o="1440" height_o="810" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/122385/1947513/IMG_0014_5_o.png" data-mid="9673751" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/122385/1947513/IMG_0018_6_600.png" width="600" height="337" width_o="1440" height_o="810" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/122385/1947513/IMG_0018_6_o.png" data-mid="9673774" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/122385/1947513/IMG_0022_7_600.png" width="600" height="337" width_o="1440" height_o="810" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/122385/1947513/IMG_0022_7_o.png" data-mid="9673776" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/122385/1947513/IMG_0033_8_600.png" width="600" height="337" width_o="1440" height_o="810" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/122385/1947513/IMG_0033_8_o.png" data-mid="9673779" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/122385/1947513/IMG_0038_9_600.png" width="600" height="337" width_o="1440" height_o="810" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/122385/1947513/IMG_0038_9_o.png" data-mid="9673781" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/122385/1947513/IMG_0040_68_600.png" width="600" height="337" width_o="1440" height_o="810" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/122385/1947513/IMG_0040_68_o.png" data-mid="9673782" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/122385/1947513/IMG_0042_11_600.png" width="600" height="337" width_o="1440" height_o="810" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/122385/1947513/IMG_0042_11_o.png" data-mid="9673798" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/122385/1947513/IMG_0048_12_600.png" width="600" height="337" width_o="1440" height_o="810" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/122385/1947513/IMG_0048_12_o.png" data-mid="9673802" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/122385/1947513/IMG_0057_13_600.png" width="600" height="337" width_o="1440" height_o="810" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/122385/1947513/IMG_0057_13_o.png" data-mid="9673807" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/122385/1947513/IMG_0061_14_600.png" width="600" height="337" width_o="1440" height_o="810" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/122385/1947513/IMG_0061_14_o.png" data-mid="9673813" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/122385/1947513/IMG_0065_15_600.png" width="600" height="337" width_o="1440" height_o="810" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/122385/1947513/IMG_0065_15_o.png" data-mid="9673816" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/122385/1947513/IMG_0068_16_600.png" width="600" height="337" width_o="1440" height_o="810" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/122385/1947513/IMG_0068_16_o.png" data-mid="9673821" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/122385/1947513/IMG_0071_17_600.png" width="600" height="337" width_o="1440" height_o="810" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/122385/1947513/IMG_0071_17_o.png" data-mid="9673826" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/122385/1947513/IMG_0077_18_600.png" width="600" height="337" width_o="1440" height_o="810" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/122385/1947513/IMG_0077_18_o.png" data-mid="9673838" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/122385/1947513/IMG_0084_19_600.png" width="600" height="337" width_o="1440" height_o="810" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/122385/1947513/IMG_0084_19_o.png" data-mid="9673848" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/122385/1947513/IMG_0091_21_600.png" width="600" height="337" width_o="1440" height_o="810" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/122385/1947513/IMG_0091_21_o.png" data-mid="9673852" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/122385/1947513/IMG_0094_22_600.png" width="600" height="337" width_o="1440" height_o="810" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/122385/1947513/IMG_0094_22_o.png" data-mid="9673854" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/122385/1947513/IMG_0098_23_600.png" width="600" height="337" width_o="1440" height_o="810" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/122385/1947513/IMG_0098_23_o.png" data-mid="9673858" border="0" align="left"/>Photographer: Paul Gisbrecht. On another screen at the back wall of the room, one could amongst others watch Swiss graphic designer Ruedi Baur elaborating on this open concept of use and purpose in a short video interview: »Its functions completely have to be invented. Thus the user, the person who buys this object, plays an essential role in its overall conception. The user is not forced to do what the object dictates. He or she is the participatory inventor of its respective applications. To me, this is exactly how 21st century design should work. This is the prototype of a product that can be used in a creative way.« <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/122385/1947513/CUBE_Baur.png" width="670" height="376" width_o="1440" height_o="810" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/122385/1947513/CUBE_Baur_o.png" data-mid="9670580" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/122385/1947513/CUBE_Erlhoff.png" width="670" height="376" width_o="1440" height_o="810" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/122385/1947513/CUBE_Erlhoff_o.png" data-mid="9670622" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/122385/1947513/CUBE_Ghini_1.png" width="670" height="376" width_o="1440" height_o="810" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/122385/1947513/CUBE_Ghini_1_o.png" data-mid="9670646" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/122385/1947513/CUBE_Heller_1.png" width="670" height="376" width_o="1440" height_o="810" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/122385/1947513/CUBE_Heller_1_o.png" data-mid="9670661" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/122385/1947513/CUBE_Piva_1.png" width="670" height="376" width_o="1440" height_o="810" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/122385/1947513/CUBE_Piva_1_o.png" data-mid="9670666" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/122385/1947513/CUBE_Rams.png" width="670" height="376" width_o="1440" height_o="810" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/122385/1947513/CUBE_Rams_o.png" data-mid="9670672" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/122385/1947513/CUBE_Sagmeister_1.png" width="670" height="376" width_o="1440" height_o="810" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/122385/1947513/CUBE_Sagmeister_1_o.png" data-mid="9670677" border="0" align="left"/><img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/122385/1947513/CUBE_VanStammen_1.png" width="670" height="376" width_o="1440" height_o="810" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/3/122385/1947513/CUBE_VanStammen_1_o.png" data-mid="9670680" border="0" align="left"/> Click here to watch the videos in full length Baur was not the only person highly reknown within the design scene to pay tribute to THE BLACK CUBE in such an enthusiastic way. Similar interviews with the likes of Michael Erlhoff, Massimo Iosa Ghini, Steven Heller, Thijs van Stammen, Marco Piva, Dieter Rams and Stefan Sagmeister were shown in which they elucidate the manifold qualities of the brand new design object, such as its rich symbolic implications, its perfection of minimalism, its display of supreme craftsmanship or its authenticity. Seldom had an innovation made such waves and had gotten that much praise in advance. Given not only what THE BLACK CUBE stands for, but also how boldly it realizes so many of design's formerly unfulfilled promises, its glorious release at »The Present« seemed very well-earned. © 2010. Krings, Pfaff, Unteidig Tweet var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-25510055-1']); _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); (function() { var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })(); var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-25510055-2']); _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); (function() { var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })(); It is black – deep and mysterious. It is cubic – shiny on every side with sharp edges, it has the most rational and most perfect shape. It is nicely crafted...