Alfredo Häberli Design Development

Software, hardware, joystick, online, PGP, bits, megabits. These are all concepts that we encounter in our abstract everyday lives. I have confronted this immaterial world of concepts with products that demonstrate the way that I, as a designer, see things. What interests me is the variety, geniality, innovation and surprising nature of contemporary products. In my own life I try to observe, and in the process, to learn. I try to learn from everyday life and from the people around me. As a designer I observe the application of a particular technology or new material from the vantage of a new typology, from the point of view of the originality and authenticity of a handicraft, but only when this is done in a caring way. I made these obsevrations when wandering around a trade fair. Then I gave them a structure based on theDictionary of Computing, selecting several dozen terms from the 10,000 hardware, software, programming, network and application terms in the dictionary. These selected terms provided the basis for the choice of products. Sometimes I used the terms in an informative and obvious manner and sometimes ironically. Sometimes I stressed the link between the term and the product. This served as a point of departure for my own reflections. These reflections, in their turn, gave me new moments of contemplation. Not judgements, not preconceived notions, just new, unencumbered and open-minded thoughts. Ultimately, I believe that an exhibition is yet anotrher way of finding out about ourselves, examining at a profound level, and, not least, discovering new things. The Download exhibition is my attempt to help visitors discover new things for themselves; even things as clarifying the meaning of a concept in their own minds. It is my hope that visitors will be able to download information at several different levels.