The Pursuit of Optimal Relevance With Berlin Creative Studio sub
From Balenciaga runway shows to Travis Scott album covers, a rare look inside the architectural think tank’s multidisciplinary works in GREATEST 09.
Founded in 2017 by Niklas Bildstein Zaar and Andrea Faraguna, sub has evolved to become one of contemporary design’s most potent forces. Based in Berlin, the groundbreaking architecture studio/research institute retains a discreet profile while collaborating with leading figures across fashion (Balenciaga), music (Travis Scott) and art (Anne Imhof).
Like a high-functioning motherboard, sub’s work is interconnected on every level, be it shelves in a store, art on an album sleeve or stagecraft at a concert. According to the practice, each design project is explored via a combination of “emerging technologies, semantic analysis and behavioral research, alongside traditional architectural techniques,” resulting in a visual language that’s complex to pin down but makes coherent sense when read in widescreen. In the past, Bildstein Zaar has compared this approach to the manticore—a mythological creature comprising the head of a man, the body of a lion and the tail of a scorpion. Like the manticore, sub combines disparate creative philosophies in a bid to arrive at something new.
For GREATEST 09, sub developed a surreal optical journey that exposes the core mechanics of its innovation engine, showcasing how each intricate component is finely tuned. Primarily driven by AI, the visuals are mostly grouped by project, oscillating between the artificial, real and hyperreal. In some, the meaning is clear, while others communicate a deeper, more opaque message.
Writer and architect Jack Self provides a discursive essay that acts as the supporting framework, examining the firm within the context of cultural production’s unabating search for relevance. Consider it your audio guide for a dreamlike gallery tour.