MULTIFORM, Gabriel Fontana
Workshop — Sneakers Under ConstructionWhat is your position in a group? When was the last time you were in the minority? And can you put yourself in someone else’s shoes? For this workshop, Gabriel Fontana took the format of the standard school gym class as a basis to investigate group dynamics. The sports-and-play part of Gabriel’s unconventional game of handball in this workshop is the trigger to go into conversation with him and the other participants about diversity and inclusion based on physical capabilities, gender, sexuality and race.
MULTIFORM, Gabriel Fontana. Photo Iris Rijskamp
With ‘Multiform’ Gabriel unravels the competitive and normative sides of team sport, and presents a more social variant. Whenever the referee blows a whistle, the uniform changes color and the players switch teams. This makes the uniform a ‘multiform’. Dark blue becomes light blue, white becomes dark blue – at least partly. The more often the whistle is blown, the more diverse the mix. Do you remember which side you are on and who your allies are?
Participation is free: reserve a spot by emailing youngdesignteam@designmuseum.nl
Born in Paris, France, Gabriel Fontana is a designer with an established practice in social design. After graduating cum laude from his master’s degree at Design Academy Eindhoven (2018), Gabriel established his design studio in Rotterdam to further develop his Multiform project.
Participation in this workshop is free, but reservation is necessary. This workshop is open to all types of identities and bodies, the game will be adapted to the physical and mental capabilities of the participants. The language of the workshop will be English, but if you are not completely proficient in this, we will be happy to translate for you. If you have any questions about accessibility, please email them to youngdesignteam@designmuseum.nl
MULTIFORM follows Gabriel’s extensive research into sports, about which he stated:
“My research focused on sports, particularly looking at them from a queer and feminist perspective, and thinking about how we can redesign games in sports and how we can “queer” them. I was seeing sports as a very old, conservative and normative social practice – it has never really evolved and we keep on performing and playing the same games. Think about two teams competing at each other, the ideology of adding an enemy, the binary division, hypermasculinity, exclusion…”
Curious for more information about Gabriel and MULTIFORM? Read this interview Or watch this video about MULTIFORM or this video about Gabriel.
MULTIFORM, Gabriel Fontana. Photo Iris Rijskamp
Young Design Team
This workshop is organized by the Young Design Team. This new department of the museum develops exhibitions, presentations and public programs for a young and diverse audience. The focus is on young design makers, young design users and contemporary society.
