Studio Fontana

Multiform (2018–present)


What

Multiform is an educational program for inclusive physical education. It consists of a new team sport game, transformable uniforms, and alternative sports fields. The games encourage school children to negotiate, resist and alter existing social power structures and body norms through embodied learning.

Why

Many children experience PE class as a very hostile environment. Dominant ideas regarding gender, ethnicity, physical ability and sexuality are reproduced in sport and physical education. Research shows that girls, children with disabilities, children with a bi-cultural background and LGBTQIA+ children are marginalised and often excluded in PE. This experience of exclusion has an impact that extends far beyond the boundaries of the sports class; often a determining factor in creating obstacles regarding a child's well-being and social development.

How

During the game, each time a new colour appears on the transformable outfit, the player changes team. This challenges the way we usually oppose the other. Both the composition and sizes of the teams are changeable, for example, in one round you can be in a group of six and the next, a group of three. This way, students experience what it means to be a majority or a minority and are challenged to develop collaborative strategies. Multiform invites participants to understand the subjectivities of the ‘other’ and, in doing so, contributes to fighting processes of exclusion.

Multiform was developed in collaboration with philosopher Nathanja van den Heuvel and Rotterdam based primary and secondary schools, sport teachers and their pupils.


Selected exhibitions

WEWE FUTURES
Taiwan Design Museum Tawain (TW), Jul 2023.

ULTRADEPENDENT PUBLIC SCHOOL
BAK, basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht (NL), Apr 2023.

TURNING TOWARDS FLUIDIY - A TOURNAMENT OF THE UNKNOWN (#2)
Solo Show. W139 Amsterdam (NL), November 2022.

MILAN SALONE DEL MOBILE
Milan, Jun 2021.

TURNING TOWARDS FLUIDIY - A TOURNAMENT OF THE UNKNOWN (#1)
Solo Show. Gemaal op Zuid, Rotterdam (NL), October 2021.

WHEN EDUCATION LASTS A LIFETIME
Gdynia Design, Gdynia (PL), July 2021.

POINT COMMUN
Alliance France Design, Paris (FR), June 2021.

CHRONIC HEALTH
The Embassy of Health, Dutch Design Week, Online, November 2020.

NEW FASHION NARRATIVES
Fashion Clash Festival 2019,Maastricht (NL), November 2019.

WHAT IF WE FAIL TO PLAY BY THE RULES OF THE GAME?
Qtopia Queer Arts Festival 2019,Kunstmagazijn gallery, Nijmegen (NL), October 2019.

PARIS DESIGN WEEK 2019
Espace Verboit, Paris (FR),
September 2019.

ERREUR DE CONCEPTION
International Design Biennale of
St-Etienne (FR), March - April 2019.


Selected workshops

REINVENTING TEAM SPORTS
Nike World Headquarters, Portland (US), February 2023.

SHAPESHIFTING SPORTS CAMP
BAK, basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht (NL), January 2023.

DRAG(UE)
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne (CH), January 2023.

TEMPLE OF LOVE
MAC VAL, Vitry sur Seine (FR), July 2022.

SNEAKERS UNBOXED
Design Museum, Den Bosh (NL), September 2022.

SAINT-ETIENNE DESIGN BIENNALE
Cité du Design, Saint-Etienne (FR,) June 2022.

OPENING OF THE INTERNATIONALE BIENNALE OF SAINT-ETIENNE
Cité du Design, Saint-Etienne (FR), April 2022.

TOURNAMENT OF THE UNKNOWN - TURNING TOWARDS FLUIDITY
Solo Show. Gemaal op Zuid, Rotterdam (NL), October 2021.

WORKSHOPS IN PRIMARY & SECONDARY SCHOOLS
Comenius College, Obs Dakpark school, Calvin Meerpaal school, Het Lyceum Rotterdam (NL), 2019-2020
Lycée de Coulommiers, Paris (FR) 2021.

QFCPSSBBXOXO:
Trainings for the Not-Yet, BAK, basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht (NL), November 2019.

QUEER SPORTS
Designers & Hackers Academy,
Amsterdam (NL), August 2019.

QUEERING NOT JUST THE
BODIES BUT THE GAME ITSELF
Willem De Kooning Academie, Rotterdam (NL), April 2019.

FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT
Design Academy Eindhoven (NL), March 2019.

POWER GAMES
Jan Van Eyck Academie, Maastricht (NL), October 2018.

A TEAM WITHOUT NAME
Urban Playground Festival, Hasselt (BE), April 2017.

SPORT, NATIONALISM & FICTION
Design Beyond Change Symposium, Basel (CH), March 2017.