Metahaven

The Metahaven design studio is founded in Amsterdam by Daniel van der Velden (1971) and Vinca Kruk (1980).

Daniel van der Velden and Vinca Kruk studied at the Willem de Kooning Academy in Rotterdam, graduating in graphic design in 1996 and 2003, respectively. Kruk worked as a researcher at the Design Department of the Jan van Eyck Academie in Maastricht until 2005; at the same institution she was a research consultant between 2006 and 2007. Van der Velden obtained his master’s degree from the Jan van Eyck Academie in 1998, where he also worked as a research consultant from 2004.

Metahaven begins working with the Sealand Identity Project, which Van der Velden had started earlier. They exhibit their work in a collective exhibition at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London.

They present Affiche Frontière for the CAPC Musée d’Art Contemporain in Bordeaux. The project consists of a series of ten billboards located along the bypass of the city, creating a border between the centre and the outskirts.

The Künstlerhaus Stuttgart organises the exhibition Stadtstaat. Szenario für das Verbinden von Städten.

Metahaven publishes its first book, Uncorporate Identity, which addresses topics such as design, geopolitics, architecture and brand building. They participate in Manifesta 8, in Murcia, designing stickers to go on the fruits grown in the region during the exhibition, exploring the geopolitical situation of the territories in which these fruits are produced, thus adding an element of surprise and speculation.

The Gwangju Design Biennale (Korea) exhibits some of Metahaven’s previous work for WikiLeaks. Their work is selected for the collective exhibition Graphic Design: Now In Production at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis ( USA).

Metahaven is a finalist in the Dutch Design Awards.

The exhibitions Metahaven: Islands in the Cloud opens at MoMA PS1 in New York, and Black Transparency, at the Bureau Europa in Maastricht. Metahaven publishes the book Can Jokes Bring Down Governments? Memes, Design and Politics in electronic format. They receive the Cobra Art Prize and are named Design Studio of the Year by Icon magazine.

The Future Gallery in Berlin dedicates the exhibition Black Transparency to their work, which is also included in the Macht der Machtlosen collective exhibition, held at the Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, Germany.

The film Sprawl: Propaganda about Propaganda is screened at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco (USA). Metahaven publishes the essay Black Transparency: The Right to Know in the Age of Mass Surveillance.

Their work is included in the exhibition Dream out Loud. Designing for Tomorrow’s Demand, organised by the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam.

The Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam organises the retrospective Metahaven: EARTH. At the same time, the exhibition Metahaven: VERSION HISTORY opens at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London. In connection with both events, PSYOP: An Anthology is published.

The film Chaos Theory is presented at the Kunsthalle Krems in Krems An Der Donau, Austria.

The Metahaven: Holding the Storm exhibition opens at the Asakusa Gallery in Tokyo.

The Guggenheim Bilbao Museum unveils its exhibition Metahaven: Chaos Theory.