Kenn Munk
As a huge animal lover and what I think of myself as an 'animal rights activist', I really responded interested in Munks 'build it yourself' pop out designs. What: paper kit/recruitment flyer die cut, 4+4 colour, 200g/m2 coated stock, edition of 20.000 When: 2009 Who: WWF "During the 2009 recession we wanted to find a way to allow clients and potential clients to initiate interesting projects without throwing too much money at the problem, so we looked through older projects and teamed them up with potential clients. We had created paper kit called "Global Warning" for an exhibition in the UK - it featured a large, complex model of a polar bear with melting icecream. This seemed perfect for a pitch to the World Wildlife Foundation and we approached the UK and the Danish branches, the Danish was interested in the kit as an edition of 20,000 to hand out at an event in Copenhagen. This fitted perfectly with our approach to memory work - the idea that something you make is far more memorable than something you are given. We entered discussions about the project and since the event was an outdoor shindig aimed at children, the original bear would be too complex and tool-requiring, so we decided on a version that would be die-cut and would slot together with no glue. Furthermore, this paper kit had to fit on a sheet of A4. We made the instructions part of the actual figure and created a "wrap-around" design that allowed us to keep the number of parts down to three. The design gave us enough extra space on the sheet to, on a whim, add facts about polar bears - this is the result of bored, tired childhood mornings spent with no other literature than cereal boxes. Most of the facts were kept straight like "Beneath its fur, the polar bear's skin is black as to better absorb heat from the sun" but some twists were added to get people to feel and act: "The polar bear is a lot stronger than your dad, but still needs our help". This bear turned out cuter than the original. It was nice to revisit a project we really liked." Source: http://www.kennmunk.com/wwf_polar/index.html I thought Munk's work was really child friendly which was excellent in a way because it's children's ideologies we have to shape in order to create a fair and happy future. I can imagine these designs on cereal boxes, or inside them. Although I do not intend to change opinions with my design in the way of Munk pushes forward, I feel heartened that paper folding has a place in the art world of today. Munk's work refers to 'anti-art' (Duchamp 1913), which challenges the concept of existing definitions of 'art'. Since Duchamp, there have been many examples of the movement, from 'low-fi mail art' (the predecessor of 'net art' via postcard, 1960s) to the 'Young British Artists' (e.g. Damien Hirst - 'Mother and Child Divided' 1993), some highlighting the love of irony, paradox and punning from that of Duchamp, hence contributing to this interpretation of anti-art.
