Joris Laarman

Exhibited by Friedman Benda

Material Neodymium, 3D-printed polyamide, stainless steel

Dimensions 27.5 x 26.75 x 24.5 in

Status Vetted

About the Work

Born in 1979, Joris Laarman is a member of the bridge generation that experienced the workings of an analog world, but also the thrilling new possibilities of the digital. He seeks to unite these two realms, embracing future-facing technology while preserving the invaluable knowledge of the past. Laarman merges apparently opposing forces: the artist’s hand and computational precision, function and ornament, craft and digital fabrication, nature and culture. As technology accelerates, his lab remains on the cutting edge, creating glimpses of possible futures—“physical poems” that reflect layered narratives of a world in transition.

As digitization reshapes our world in dramatic ways and at an ever-increasing pace, new iconography, ornamentation, and perceptions of materiality emerge. Originally conceived as a commissioned robotic installation for the High Museum in Atlanta, the Digital Matter series explores the elusive possibilities of the emergent technology of self-assembling robots—blurring the line between science fiction and reality with intricate digital rococo ornamentation. Its composition from small cubes recalls the graphics of Laarman’s younger days, at a time when digital environments were opportunities for transient escape rather than a dominant infrastructure of life. Inspired by the historic furniture of the eighteenth-century cabinetmaker Abraham Roentgen, Laarman added hidden drawers that reveal themselves like Easter Eggs in a video game.

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