In these occasional studio updates we share recent developments and happenings from our studio – expect to be the first privy to new openings, travelling exhibitions, forthcoming talks, projects-in-progress, and our behind-the-scenes research (+ in today’s update, studio vacancies!)
New Work*
(*or Newly published online)
The Quiet Enchanting
Commissioned by King’s Culture
Ok, we know it’s not ‘new’, The Quiet Enchanting was installed in October of last year… But whilst our mythical frieze along the Strand was originally only on view until Spring 2024, it has now been extended well into the autumn—And so, with the summer sun well and truly out, we can’t think of a better time to get down to Westminster and re-encounter this work with fresh eyes.
For those who live outside of London don’t worry: we’ve just published a film edit of the work and story with a new sound score by our long time collaborator David Vélez. There on our website you can read all about the research underpinning The Quiet Enchanting, as well as a glimpse of the worldbuilding process that led to this speculative narrative of collective re-enchantment.
Head over to our website to read, and watch, more!
Travelling Works
The Intersection
What Things Dream About @ National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul (14.05 – 18.09, 2024).
For All! Reshaping Democracy @ Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn (30.05 – 13.10, 2024)
Re-Articulating Landscape @ Museum of Modern Art Klagenfurt, Austria (12.06 – 01.09, 2024)
It is a busy summer for our speculative futures film The Intersection, with a selection of artefacts from the film currently on view at National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul, and Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn, AND Museum of Modern Art Klagenfurt, Austria.
Set in the near future, The Intersection journeys from a violent present to a cooperative future. Exploring the interconnectedness of rapidly advancing AI, social unrest, political upheaval and climate crisis, the film follows four protagonists who embody active hope. With the gumption to imagine alternatives, they protagonists fight to democratise technology to serve community, support nature, and advance planetary justice.
We made the film back in 2020, during the eruption of COVID-19 and Black Lives Matter and just before the ‘AI-boom’. Now, four years later, we’ve found many people are revisiting that film, viewing it in the context of our present-day grapples with large language models and the near-future prospect of artificial general intelligence.
On view in Seoul, Bonn and Austria are the sensor artefacts that the Intersection protagonists craft from the detritus of the Anthropocene (from re-appropriated consumer electronics to foraged wood). Each device has a specific purpose: some constitute monitoring devices acting as an entry point into a mesh network, communicating with thousands of local sensors surveying the landscape; others monitor airborne pollution or help communities to build an understanding of ecosystem recovery.
If you can’t travel to one of the exhibitions this summer, you can catch a glimpse of the artefacts in the film itself which can be viewed here. Oh and come November, the artefacts will have moved onto GRASSI, Leipzig!
Recently Published
Towards Another Architecture: New Visions for the 21st Century, ed. Owen Hopkins(London: Lund Humphries, 2024)
The climate emergency alone requires us to rethink everything we have previously taken for granted about how we conceive and construct buildings. What we need is not a new architecture: an architecture that is not bound to a single vision or future, but is diverse, pluralist and sustains multiple conversations about the active role that architects might play in the world. Towards Another Architecture brings together contributions from practitioners and thinkers working in a range of fields and geographies to advocate their vision(s) for another architecture.”
It was a pleasure to be asked to contribute to the book alongside such a wonderful cohort of practitioners including Nzinga Biegueng Mboup, Dávid Smiló, Xu Tiantian, Gonzalo Herrero Delicado Marianela D’Aprile, Ruth Morrow, Alice Brownfield, Xenia Adjoubei, V. Mitch McEwen, Marianna Janowicz and Joshua Mardell.
We penned an essay advocating for the move ‘FROM CAUTIONARY TALES TO STORIES OF ACTIVE HOPE’ in which we elucidated on the thinking behind our ‘more-than-human manifesto’:
Our earlier ‘cautionary tales’ tackling technology and social unrest gave us the tools to address lived experience from a place of criticality and compassion. While the past few years have felt like living inside a big cautionary tale, we feel the urgency to give voice and form to imagined futures that generate active hope.[…] A More Than Human Manifesto, a challenge to long-standing histories of human exploitation and extraction, this manifesto of intent is, quite simply, our reworking the order of things.
So, we may be biased, but we think any and all architecture students, studios, aficionados or enthusiasts should have this book on their shelves.
Studio Opportunities
(Yes, we are hiring!)
Do you love questioning and interrogating complex ideas from all angles? Do you thrive in busy and dynamic creative environments? Are you passionate about ecology, technology, speculative futures, interdisciplinary design and art? Do you enjoy writing substack posts? ;-)
This is an integral role in our studio, working closely with co-founders and directors Anab Jain and Jon Ardern. In this role you’ll support and lead the studio communications and high-level research across all internal and external projects spanning speculative design, technology, ecology and arts. This role involves translating knotty ideas, possible futures, and working experiments into accessible written form for a variety of audiences: from clients, press and the general public. With persuasion, flair and integrity you will articulate our cultural and ecological mission, championing the value of design-led research via a range of written outputs.
Head over to our website to view the full job description.
Seeking expressions of interest for Producer / Project Manager
In anticipation of new projects, we're updating our directory of collaborators. And to do this, we’re inviting expressions of interest from experienced freelance Producers and Project Managers with a proven track record of delivering exceptional creative projects and immersive experiences for business, culture, government and non-profit organisations within various sized budgets.
This is a fixed contract / freelance position – while we are flexible with hybrid work patterns, due to the nature of the role, some weekly presence in our London-based studio is essential. We are interested in hearing from anyone with 3 to 5 years experience in project managing and producing creative, immersive exhibitions, events and experiences, across multiple geographies, working with multiple stakeholders and institutional partners.
We are particularly interested in meeting collaborators with full or part time availability between July and October, with the possibility of extending the collaboration past October.
Please fill out this form and email us at hello@superflux.in with your CV, cover letter and portfolio where applicable, and a confirmation that you have submitted the form. In the subject please state [Your name] - Freelance Producer/Project Manager.
…And welcoming new team members!
Carmen Pop-Tiron, Studio & Operations Manager
With experience in change management, operational strategy, business management and scalability, Carmen is leading our Studio’s operations and broader creative practice into the next phase of growth. Read more about Carmen’s interests and professional expertise here, and say hello at carmen@superflux.in
Andy Thornton, Strategy & Partnerships Lead
Advocating for a more strategic and thoughtful use of design, creativity, culture and systems thinking in business, Andy is helping shape Superflux’s mission-led services while stewarding our long-term relationships with partners, networks and communities. Read more about Andy’s interests and professional expertise here, and say hello at andy@superflux.in