Topotek 1 designs and carries out projects in a way that is both intelligent and playful. Their work draws skilfully and mischievously from the vocabularies of architecture, planning, design and graphic design, and is characterised by a determined quest for hybridisation that can be seen in the form, the function and the image of the projects, including their choice of materials (for example, artificial grass or plastic flooring for a public square).
Topotek 1 is a two-sided enterprise: on the one hand it is emotional and passionate; on the other, it is realistic and pragmatic.
The originality of what they produce lies in this tension between control and lightness, seriousness and fun. Their work in urban and rural settings in Europe and Asia is underscored by local cultural references that resonate with references from further afield, and also introduces unusual and unexpected features.
The work of Topotek 1 is truly astonishing. At once pertinent, precise and unsettling, it sparks an emotional response.
The exhibition has been designed to inflect the way we look at things in a similar way. Drawing from both art and design, Oliver Klimpel has created an installation that interprets the work of Topotek 1. This design approach highlights the importance of storytelling for Topotek 1, offering visitors a spatial experience.
The exhibition creative infidelities provides an opportunity to see and feel the Baroque aesthetic of Topotek 1’s work, which skilfully cultivates a sense of ambiguity by deliberately playing with artifice to create landscapes to be used as public spaces. Topotek 1’s cheekily poetic creations are sharply sensitive to the complexity of the world and invite us to take part in truly fabulous and unexpected experiences.