Probably a new approach to efficiently reduce our energy budget – the thermal underwear of the German company warmX: Silvered fibres are woven into the fabric of this new kind of underwear and then supplied with electricity by a small rechargeable battery. The knitted fabric warms the skin without heating wires.

Indeed this invention raises the question why we are heating whole rooms and houses while infact we only want ourself to be warm and comfortable. If anyone would wear this kind of underwear, we could probably reduce our room temperature from 20° C to probably 15° C - this would mean a massive energy saving!

Till fusion power projects like e.g. ITER will finally bring us salvation in shape of unlimited and clean energy, intelligent ideas of individuals like the inventors of warmX, might bring us one steap further. And for those who cannot wait (e.g. the citizens of Ukraine that got shut off their gas pipes by Mr. Putin): the underwear is already available in the warmX online shop.

There are places that we just cannot forget: e.g. because we met the love of our life, had a feeling of total freedom, saw something unforgettable beautiful or just got into the flow.

Saving this very moment is not possible as we all know - not even with a digital camera. But why not save the space where it all happened? Virtually this is now possible at Space02 you can buy your favourite place or places and share your experiences. For only 1$ a square meter you are the owner of your personal place. First come - first served: once knocked down, nobody else can ever snatch away your venue.

So if you have some time left between updating all your social networking websites and doing your online shopping, just go ahead and try this new service. Up till now nearly the whole world is still available for sale.

Historically Germans are known to be very efficient. Also Germans are known to be clean - designwise you can see it in the “form follows function” feever that was born in Germany’s Ulm School, but today Germans have a good reputation in sustainable engineering and alternative energies.

Additionally Germans are known to be the world champions in waste separation. Here is a good example for an “invisible design” in the sense of Lucius Burckhardt. The task here was rather “we need a container to collect the separated rubbish” then “we want to offer our residents an environment of sustainablility”.

The outcome is this monumental trash grading device that I found near Neumarkt in central Cologne. Designs like this (some would call it no-design indeed) happen everyday and are made by administrators who are not able to see the full picture and integrate one object into a whole system of things.

Im Rahmen der Ringvorlesung “Öffentlichkeit assoziieren – Zur Sozialfunktion von Kunst und Kommunikationsdesign”, findet an der Merz-Akademie ein Vorlesung von Alex Demirovic statt.

Alex Demirovic befasst sich in seinem Vortrag mit Öffentlichkeit versus Privatheit aus der Perspektive der Soziologie. Was erzeugt Privatheit, was Öffentlichkeit und wie bedingt sich dies gegenseitig im Alltag, in den Medien, in den Institutionen? So einfach der Gegensatz einerseits zu erklären sein scheint, so komplex ist andererseits die Formation von Diskursen, die privat bzw. öffentlich als Dispositiv erzeugen. Wie ist der gesellschaftliche Raum beschaffen, der ein “die Individuen assozierendes Sprechen” ermöglicht? Welchen Beitrag dazu leistet das Design der Institutionen und welchen die Institution des Designs?

Mittwoch, 17. Dezember 2008, 19.30 Uhr, Aula der Merz Akademie, Teckstraße 58, 70190 Stuttgart

I guess it is better to be very cautious to what futurologists want to tell us - like a medicine man they are trailing through the country to sell their future tales. Why they can be successfull? Because sometimes we just want to believe what they tell us, especially when it is good news.

Now, Matthias Horx, one of the German quacksalvers, wants to know that the virtual community euphoria is already in decline. Companies would already establish e-mail free days and people would call themselves “ex-onliners”: they left the virtual space to improve their quality of life.

What good news! So finally we can get rid of the many online platforms we participate in and that take hours to keep them updated and filled with social activity. Soon we will probably get back to meeting for a hot drink in a nice an cozy café… time to close one or two of our face books.

From January 19 to 25, 2009 again it’s time for one of the world’s major interior design fairs: imm cologne. It can be a boring event, as it is - of course - mainly a stock exchange for thousands of furniture dealers. And as you are running through the big halls at latest the 20th chair and the 30th sofa will make you feel tired.

It could be boring - wouldn’t there be [d3] design talents section where - as the name says - young design talents and design schools are showing their work. Right in the center of this section in hall 3.1 there’s another mentionable project: the online design magazine DESIGNSPOTTER presents 50 “fresh and wild” designers from over 16 countries in the world.

So come to Cologne in January - the imm week is one of the best times in the year to experience the city with furniture exhibition happenings on every corner and lots of parties.

Design Interactions is having an open day on Friday 5 December where students thinking of applying to the course can visit the department, listen to presentations about the course and speak to current students in the studio. Professor Anthony Dunne will give presentations at 2.15 and 4.15 pm.

Royal College of Arts, Kensington Gore, London.

The International Design Center Berlin (IDZ) shows objects of the Belgian designer Charles Kaisin. Subject is “the usage of recycled materials in modern design objects.”

Since 40 years the IDC offers a platform, where design experts, companies and an interested audience can communicate. More than 500 exhibitions, conferences, seminares and workshops have so far been shown. In connection to the creative cities exchange “BRU VIA BERLIN” between the two cultural metropolises Berlin and Brussels, IDZ Berlin shows design from the Belgian capital region, or more precisely, of designer Charles Kaisin.

Themed “Bewegung and Recycling” (Movement and Recycling) 30 works of Kaisin are presented on rotating sockets - supplemented by the 90 metres long bench “K-Bench”, that was primarily planned for the Museum of Modern Art in Luxemburg (MUDAM).

Door windows to bowls

Central topic are objects made of recycling stuff: a door window of a washing machine is transformed into a salad bowl, old bottles get a second chance as drinking cups and old plastic bags utterly become fashion. With his recycling objects, Kaisin wants to show “a new perspective for the becoming and decay of products.”

To which extent bags, sticked newspapers and dismounted washing machines can lead to serious solutions for sustainability is quite clear: to none. The idea of putting trash to fashy stuff like Freitag bags or else is not so new and more a romantic idea of “trash transformation”. Also the word “movement” in the exhibiton title sounds a bit vague in my ears. Anyhow it could be a nice entertainment for the general public and a place to meet for a small design talk.

The exhibition is open till November 7th. More information on the website of the IDZ.

The new X-ray scanners make anything visible that is under your clothes (photo via BBC).

“Europe delays airport X-ray eye” was what I read on BBC News today. Subject was the plan of the E.U. to introduce full body scanners that scan the whole body of passengers at security checks on European airports. The plan is now delayed as the members of the European Parliament (MEP) voted for a further study on the implications for privacy and health.

Scanners that make the whole naked body of a passenger visible to the security staff - a sick surveillance idea that cannot be found even in the repertoire of George Orwell’s “1984″. Unbelievable in first hand is the fact, that passengers (=human beings with their own privacy) are confronted with machines that have such a deep impact on their privacy without being warned - if not by coincident the topic stumbles onto the front pages of newspapers, tv’s and websites.

Well, so our MEPs decided that the “implications for privacy and health” should be further examined. So what was the primary object of study? Which amount of electromagnetic or X-ray radiation is necessary for operating the full body scan? Or how easily the scanner is in handling? How much time it consumes to expose the passenger?

There is a huge problem with new technologies: machines are primarily or even only tested on their physical effects, but not on their implications for society and humanity. How does the new full body scanners effect people whose small breasts and penises, love handles or artificial anuses become visible? What happens if pictues from the scanners find their way into the internet (as we know it is a common thing that especially in the U.K. data get lost now and then)? How is human dignity affected by such measures?

When it comes to new technologies, the societal and human implications definetely have to be the first that need to be regarded. As an act of humaneness, there is no other possibility. In this case, however, it is not even a matter of social research, but a matter of justice: Full body scanners simply offend our basic rights.

“Staying Alive” is the name of a calender project that was set up by 13 German illustrators. Each month the calender shows an illustration of an endangered species that is backed up by further information in the annex of the publication. Staying Alive’s intention is to set a sign against the extinction of species - part of the revenues are donated to NABU, a German nature protection NGO.

This limited edition calender can be purchased on the project’s website or for Berlin visitors at the SupaLife Kiosk in Raumerstraße 40.