Culture Now and Book launch: Alex Coles

Join us for this lunch-time talk and book launch, with writer Alex Coles in conversation with Ryan Gander, Michael Marriot and Åbäke, focusing on the role of the studio in their collaborative work.

Alex Coles is the author of The Transdisciplinary Studio (Sternberg Press, 2012), a study of the studio models of artists and designers including Marriot, Gander and Åbäke. The book posits that artists and designers are now defined not by their discipline but by the fluidity with which their practices move between them. Coles is Professor of Transdisciplinary Studies, School of Art, Design and Architecture, at the University of Huddersfield, and is the author of DesignArt (Tate Publishing, 2005) and the editor of Design and Art (MIT Press/Whitechapel, 2007).

Artist Ryan Gander frequently draws on the vocabulary of design and his recent projects include The Magnificent Seven (2012), CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, San Francisco, Locked Room Scenario (2011) for Artangel, and Intervals: Ryan Gander (2010) at the Solomon R Guggenheim Museum, New York.

Michael Marriot is a London based furniture designer and curator. Recent projects include the Roto Stool (2011) for SCP and the two-person exhibition with Gander, Ernö Goldfinger V Groucho Marx (2011) at the Russian Club, London.

Åbäke is a graphic design collective that works between a number of media and platforms including music, print, and publishing. Åbäke have collaborated on projects with Hussein Chalayan, Kitsune, the Serpentine Gallery, and recently with Gander on his book Ryan Gander: Catalogue Raisonnable Vol. 1 (JRP Ringier, 2010).