A decade after their first solo-show in Shanghai Thonik returns to China. The Amsterdam-based design agency celebrates its 25th anniversary with Why We Design, a thought provoking exhibition exploring the motives that drive Thonik’s design practice.
Thonik: Why We Design
Power Station of Art, Shanghai.
29.03.2019 – 02.06.2019
The show focuses on moving graphics, animation and other time-based media, in line with Thonik’s digital-first practice. In eleven rooms eleven projects are highlighted that are exemplary of eleven underlying motives. Visitors are invited to submerge themselves in Thonik’s way of thinking and world view by passing through the moving images.
In a world that is increasingly man-made, the most obvious question is seldom asked: why? Designers are usually expressive creators rather than self-reflexive thinkers. Nikki Gonnissen and Thomas Widdershoven are different, though. In their recently launched anniversary publication Why We Design Thonik’s founders explore and examine their motives as designers: from the need to create impact to a constant search for independence, from the blessings of systems to the necessity of playfulness. Combining project descriptions with historical, artistic and philosophical contextualization makes this book a rare gem in design literature. It’s a mixture of monography, self-reflexive pamphlet and critically inspired soul-searching.
