Björn Franke
info@bjornfranke.com
News - Projects - Research - Teaching - Biography
Biography
Björn Franke is a designer and design theorist who studied at the Muthesius Academy of Fine Arts and the
Royal College of Art, where he now completes his PhD in Design Interactions and teaches in Critical and Historical Studies. He was recently a fellow at the Akademie Schloss Solitude and the Artist Residency
Schloss Balmoral. His work has been exhibited and published his internationally and most recently in the opening exhibition of the Design Museum in Holon. His research intents are the relationship between design and philosophy and the philosophy of technology; in particular how the shifting technological environment alters human behaviour, relationships and self-conceptions.
Education
2007 – present
PhD Candidate, Design Interactions, Royal College of Art, London, UK
2004 – 2006
MA (RCA), Design Products, Royal College of Art, London, UK
1999 – 2003
Diplom, Industrial Design, Muthesius Academy of Fine Arts, Kiel, Germany
Professional History and Residencies
2010
Visiting Lecturer, Department of Design, Zurich University of the Arts, Switzerland
2009
Fellow, Künstlerhaus Schloss Balmoral, Bad Ems, Germany
2008 - present
Visiting Lecturer, Critical and Historical Studies, Royal College of Art, London, UK
2007 - 2009
Fellow, Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart, Germany
2001 - 2004
Design Consultant, Syndicate Brand & Corporate Design, Hamburg, Germany
Lectures, Workshops and other Teaching Activities
2010
Lecture, Würtembergischer Kunstverein, Stuttgart, Germany, 29 July
Lecture, Künstlerhaus Schloss Balmoral, Bad Ems, Germany, 27 May
Lecture, Dialogues in Design, Royal College of Art, London, UK, 2 March
2009
Lecture, Product Design, Kunsthochschule Kassel, Germany, 16 July
Lecture, IZEW, Universität Tübingen, Germany, 25 May
Lecture, Product Design, HfG Offenbach, Germany, 8 May
Lecture, Industrial Design, Folgwang Hochschule, Essen, Germany, 2 April
Lecture, Product Design, Middlesex University, London, UK, 1 April
2008
Lecture, Interior Architecture, Middlesex University, London, UK, 4 December
2007
Crit, School of Architecture, Westminster University, London, UK, 29 October
2006
Workshop, »The Subversive Tourist«, Aarhus School of Architecture, Denmark, 3 - 9 April
2005
Lecture, Department of Design and Media Arts, UCLA, Los Angeles, USA, 11 January
Selected Conference Activities
Reviewer, HCI 2010, 24th British Computer Society Conference on Human Computer Interaction,
University of Abertay Dundee, UK, 6 - 10 September 2010
Speaker, “Design as Ethical and Moral Inquiry,” CEPHAD 2010 Conference, The Danish Design School, Copenhagen, Denmark, 27 - 29 January 2010
Speaker, "The Technological Manipulation of the Self," The Design of the (In)Human,
Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart, Germany, 19 - 21 November 2009
Speaker, "Design as a Medium for Inquiry," Multiple Ways to Design Research,
Swiss Design Network Symposium 2009, Lugano, Switzerland, 12 - 13 November 2009
Reviewer, HCI 2009, 23rd British Computer Society conference on Human Computer Interaction,
Cambridge University, UK, 1 - 5 September 2009
Speaker, "Manufactured Fears," Dealing with Fear, Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart, Germany,
18 - 20 October 2007
Speaker, "Artefacts as Influential Actors," Design/Body/Sense, Design History Society Conference,
Kingston University, London, UK, 5 - 7 September 2007
Speaker, "Affective Sensory Extensions," Persuasive 2007: The Second International Conference on
Persuasive Technology, Stanford University, Palo Alto, USA, 26 - 27 April 2007
Speaker, "Traces of an Immaginary Affair," Something Fake, Platform 21, Amsterdam, The Netherlands,
5 October 2006
Selected Projects
2007
Posthuman Futures, Research Project, Royal College of Art (ongoing)
Threat Alert, Object and Photos
Chalkhead, Installation for Village Fête, Victoria and Albert Museum
Trend, Collage for Copy Magazine
2006
Traces of an Imaginary Affair, Objects and Photos
Affective Sensory Extensions, Objects and Film
2005
Apocalyptic Architecture, Essay and Image Archive investigating Cold War Survival Architecture
Eastern German Remains, Essay and Photos investigating Abandoned Eastern German Landscapes
Pace Maker, Object and Photos
2004
Panic Box, Installation, Photos and Film
Authenticity, Collage for Swiss Typographic Magazine
Selected Exhibitions
2010
KM 500/3, Kunsthalle Mainz, Germany, 19 November 2010 - 16 January 2011
Territories of the In/Human, Würtembergischer Kunstverein, Stuttgart, Germany, 30 April - 1 August 2010
The State of Things: Design and the 21st Century, Design Museum Holon, Israel, January 2010 - April 2010
2009
Hortus Conclusus/Apertus, Künstlerhaus Schloss Balmoral, Bad Ems, Germany, 3 - 11 October
Love Design, Klaus Engelhorn Depot, Vienna, Austria, 1 - 10 October
Show Three, Whirled Cinema, London, UK, 4 July
Promise, Practice, Protocol, Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart, Germany, 14 May - 4 July
Love Design, Galleria Nina Luma, Milan, Italy, 22 - 27 April
2008
Die Römer VI - Kommunikologie, Projektraum Römerstrasse, Stuttgart, Germany, 15 November
Open Studios, Sommerfest, Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart, Germany, 5 July
Fetisch & Konsum, Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart, Germany, 29 May - 5 July
2007
The Art of Research, Lume Gallery, Helsinki, Finland, 1 - 12 October
Village Fête, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK, 27 - 28 July
Digitalinability, DMY 2007, Berlin, Germany, 17 - 20 May
2006
Eden ADN, Biennale Internationale Design Saint-Étienne, France, 22 November - 3 December
Something Fake, Platform 21, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 6 - 27 October
Weapon World, Café de Lumiere, Taipei, Taiwan, 7 - 14 November
The Wellcome Trust's Travelling Apothecary, London, UK, 16 September
Generation, Royal College of Art, London, UK, 23 June - 2 July
Designsuburbia, DMY 2006, Berlin, Germany, 18 - 21 May
Features in Books, Magazines and Other Media
2009
Fetisch & Konsum, Merz & Solitude, Germany, 2009
IdN, 15th Anniversary Edition, Hong Kong, 2009
Esquire, Vol.23 No. 4, April 2009. Japan
Interview on RCN RADIO, 21 March 2009, Colombia
The Guardian, 12 March 2009, UK
Love Design, Paola Bjaringer (ed), DAAB, Germany, 2009
2007
Code Magazine, Issue 5, Autumn 07, Belgium
VIA, 03/06, June 2007, Austria
IdN, Vol.14 No.1, April 2007, Hong Kong
2006
Cool Hunting, Dave Evans (ed), East Street Publications, Australia, 2006
Icon 41, November 2006, UK
Vogue, October 2006, Korea
Viewpoint, No.20, September 2006, UK
Designers' Workshop Tokyo, Vol. 23, No. 149, September 2006, Japan
Icon 39, September 2006, UK
Static, Issue 3, The London Consortium, July 2006, UK
ID Magazine, June 2006, USA
+Design, No.45, March/April 2006, Greece
Max, 03/06, Italy
Homme, 02/15, Spain
2004
Swiss Typographic Magazine, 03/04, Switzerland
2003
Design Report, 05/03, Germany
2002
Design Report, 02/02, Germany
Grants and Awards
2009
6 month Fellowship, Künstlerhaus Schloss Balmoral, Bad Ems, Germany
2007
12 month Fellowship, Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart, Germany
© 2004 - 2010 Björn Franke