Transpersonal: Metahaven

In this talk, Dutch collective Metahaven respond to the theme ‘transpersonal’, which relays states of consciousness that go beyond the limits of personal identity. This may include peak and spiritual experiences such as near death phenomena and the expansion of awareness beyond the usual remits of individuality, which may be brought on by experiences of crisis related to the spiritual, ethical and relational extremes of contemporary life.

This presentation is followed by a panel discussion including Sadhna Jain, MA Course Leader of Graphic Design Communication at Chelsea College of Arts.

Founded by Vinca Kruk and Daniel van der Velden, Metahaven is a collective operating on the cutting edge of design, art, aesthetics and politics. Metahaven’s practice consists of projects across design, art, theory, exhibitions, publications, lectures, and filmmaking. Recent solo presentations include The Sprawl, YCBA, San Francisco (2015), Black Transparency, Future Gallery, Berlin, (2014), and Islands in the Cloud, MoMA PS1, New York (2013). Recent group exhibitions include The Eighth Climate (What Does Art Do?), 11th Gwangju Biennale (2016), All of This Belongs to You, V&A, London (2015), Private Settings: Art After the Internet, Warsaw Museum of Modern Art (2014), and Immaterial Labour Isn’t Working, Auto Italia, London, (2013). Recent publications include Black Transparency (2015), Can Jokes Bring Down Governments? (2013), VOID MYSTIQUE DNA in collaboration with Deterritorial Support Group (DSG), published with Auto Italia (2013), and Uncorporate Identity (2010). Videos by Metahaven include Home (2014), and Interference (2015), both for musician, composer and artist Holly Herndon, as part of an ongoing collaboration. Metahaven’s first full-length documentary, The Sprawl (Propaganda about Propaganda), premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam in 2016.

Transpersonal: art and life directives is a lecture series on the theory and application of art and design curated and convened by Dr. Stephen Wilson. It is staged in collaboration with the postgraduate community at Chelsea, Camberwell and Wimbledon College of Arts at the University of the Arts London.

The term transpersonal explores interpersonal relationships and communities, specifically forms of relation that break down the boundaries of the self. Over the course of ten lectures, this series explores a number of directives that aim to produce techniques, crafts, states of mind and forms of awareness related to psychosocial care. Drawing on critical developments in design, psychology, feminism, dance, anthropology, art theory, robotics and media studies, the series reassesses the value of cultural expressions and experiences to reconsider these experiences as “transpersonal responsibility”.