In Uncorporate Identity: Emblem and Void, design studio and think
tank Metahaven embark on a parabolic survey that links geopolitical
conflicts to branding, imaginary nations to "star
architecture", flexible governance to the iron-cast law of
value, and the totalitarianism of the standard to online social
networks. Uncorporate Identity is at once an artistic manifesto for
design under globalization and a workbook of essays, narratives and
truisms investigating the ambiguous state of identity and branding
today. The book is devised as a concept album crafted in lines of
inquiry around Metahaven's landmark projects, as well as
essays, interviews and fiction by China Miville, Keller Easterling,
Boris Groys, Dieter Lesage, Pier Vittorio Aureli, Mihnea Mircan,
Chantal Mouffe, David Grewal.
Uncorporate Identity is an anthology of Metahaven projects, ideas
and models. A science fiction book about design, it describes
corporate identity beyond certainty, entwined with politics,
speculation and information networks. Carved out from the
multipolar geopolitical spaces of the early 21st century and the
paradoxical leftovers and peripheries of ancient regimes and ruined
ideologies, Uncorporate Identity is at once an artistic manifesto
for design under globalization and a workbook of essays, narratives
and truisms investigating the ambiguous state of identity and
branding today.
Authored by Metahaven, a design and research think tank consisting
of Daniel van der Velden, Vinca Kruk and Gon Zifroni, Uncorporate
Identity is edited by Marina Vishmidt and includes contributions by
and collaborations with Armin Linke, Dieter Lesage, Chantal Mouffe,
Peter van Ham, Regula Stämpfli, Michael Taussig, BAVO, Mihnea
Mircan, Ruedi Baur, David Reinfurt, Adriaan Mellegers, Tina
Clausmeyer and many others.
Metahaven, based in Amsterdam and Brussels, is a studio focusing on design and research in visual identity and architecture. Its partners are Vinca Kruk, Daniel van der Velden and Gon Zifroni.
