Björn Franke | Biography


	Björn Franke info@bjornfranke.com News - Projects - Research - Teaching - Biography Biography Björn Franke is a designer who investigates the social, psychological and philosophical implications of artefacts and products; in particular how the shifting technological environment alters human behaviour, relationships and self-conceptions. The projects vary in media and include conceptual products, photography and film. Franke studied Industrial Design at the Muthesius Academy of Fine Arts and Design Products at the Royal College of Art, where he now works on 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 in London, Berlin, Amsterdam, Helsinki and Milan and has been published in magazines and books worldwide. He lives and works in London. 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, 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 Reviewer, School of Architecture, Westminster University, London, UK, 29 October 2006 Workshop Leader, »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 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, PhD 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 Dealing with Fear, 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, 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, DAAB, Germany, 2009 Forms for Pleasure, Stichting Kunstboek, Belgium, 2009 (forthcoming) 2008 Crazy Stuff, OLO, France, 2008 Wysokie Obcasy, Nr.9(462), March 2008, Poland 2007 Code Magazine, Issue 5, Autumn 07, Belgium VIA, 03/06, June 2007, Austria IdN, Vol.14 Nr.1, April 2007, Hong Kong 2006 Cool Hunting, Dave Evans, East Street Publications, Australia, 2006 Icon 41, November 2006, UK Vogue, October 2006, Korea Gallery, October 2006, Ukraine Viewpoint, Nr. 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 Design 2006/07, Korea ID Magazine, June 2006, USA +Design, Nr. 45, March/April 2006, Greece QUO 04/06, Spain 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