Future Breakfast
Bricolage on a grid
The Future Breakfast was one of the very first moments for the Zukunftsbackstube in 2020. The intention was to freely relate a conventional reference system and to put a microcosm into scale. A bit similar to the picnic scene in Powers of Ten by Charles and Ray Eames.
That same year, the coronavirus outbreak began, and the first lockdown followed shortly afterwards. The Zukunftsbackstube is a phenomenon that has emerged from a period of multiple crises and hyper object, during which the creative industries have developed hybrid structures and taken on mutated, future-proof formats. The ideas and workshop cult of the Zukunftsbackstube is a spirit of the times.
The Zukunftsbackstube is methodology, mutant, microcosm and modern manner of new creative culture.
Text and Bricolage: Benjamin Rieß
construire la pasta
Collective Catalogue I
During the Italian Renaissance, the Mannerists created new, dynamic and complex forms by treating marble as if it were pasta. They referred to this technique as ‘marmo molle’, or soft marble. Mannerist sculpture, applied to the scale of architecture, defined the grand manner and gave rise to the Baroque.
The ‘marmo molle’ of yesteryear is now called ProtoPasta. It is amorphous, consists of a heat-treatable, environmentally friendly material and is extruded through a nozzle by a bot at a temperature of over 220° Celsius. Thanks to these new technologies, conventional reference systems can be dispensed with and innovative forms can emerge.
With defining ideas on form, space and structure, the Zukunftsbackstube designs a microcosm in grand manner and pioneers a new, magnificent modernism – with architecture al dente.
Text and Photography: Benjamin Rieß
The World in a Spoon
Autobiographical Essay I
In his autobiographical essay, Benjamin Rieß describes his youthful spirit at the dawn of the Zukunftsbackstube. With a healthy sense of humour and using scientific language as a catalyst, he explains the precise position of the Zukunftsbackstube in the universe.
For just as cosmic coincidences contributed to the culture of the universe’s origins, so too has it been with the culture of creation for the Zukunftsbackstube. The paradox that the planet Earth is in reality neither spherical nor egg-shaped, but rather, on closer inspection, pot-bellied, plays a decisive role in this.
Left to life between lockdown, depression and energy crisis, he began as an amateur astronomer and believed firmly in the future. Enamoured of stars, apples and round glasses, he invented the ‘Zukunftsbackstube’ and created a cultural microcosm from the world in a spoon.
Text and Photography: Benjamin Rieß
digiti(c)e it icyhot
Collective Catalogue II
Using handcrafted and computer-aided models, the Zukunftsbackstube develops urban interventions, innovative spatial and utilisation concepts, sustainable and resource-saving building designs in dynamic and contemporary forms for future-proof architecture.
With a strict focus on the interplay of spatial architecture and design language, combined with the right blend of a hands-on culture and artistic ideas, the Zukunftsbackstube creates a methodological microcosm and develops urban prototypes that, through intelligent climate concepts — ranging from classically inspired designs based on baking tins or waffle irons to experimental approaches using dextrose or multivitamins — address the specific challenges of our era of global warming.
Text and Photography: Benjamin Rieß
A Matter on the Brush
Autobiographical Essay II
In his second autobiographical essay, Benjamin Rieß explores the young ideas on display at the Zukunftsbackstube. With a healthy sense of humour and scientific language as his catalyst, he explains how solid matter is the egg-laying wool-milk sow for the Zukukunftbackstube.
For just as we humans were slow to realise that a large part of the Earth’s surface consists of water, it is said that eighty per cent ‘more stuff’ lies hidden behind the part of the universe visible to us. The realisation that the smallest particles, which are neither visible nor tangible, not only truly exist but are the universe itself, is significant in this context.
Left to his own devices, caught between faith, luck and sweat, he begins to bring his own works to life and shapes the future. Remaining true to his love of stars, apples and round glass, he crafts a cultural microcosm from a matter on the toothbrush.
Text and Photography: Benjamin Rieß
