Would You Buy A Book From This Man?

ERIK KESSELS has been a confounding creative force who’s gleefully advertised the “worst hotel in the world,” taught students to embrace their embarrassments, and published a plethora of books along the way. Beren neale caught up with him before his talk at belgium’s premier design event us by night…

Erik Kessels is a man of many talents, equally at home exhibiting installation art in the MoMA as curating a politically themed gym. He’s also not afraid of failure, of being vulnerable, or of harnessing the power of the absurd. It’s a tricky balance, but one that he’s had success with thanks to a parallel drive for originality and of developing projects with meaning, all with the aim of creating lasting work in a transitory world.

What was the theme of your Us By Night talk?

I did this book called Failed It! and the talk covers some of its topics – the fact that nowadays we work with tools that are close to perfect, like smartphones, 3D printers and computers. I think you should get rid of the perfection first of all and just go in a wrong direction. Deliberately make a mistake. It’s not about learning from your mistake, because we have to do this every day already. It’s more deliberately going the wrong way: when the navigation system tells you to turn around, but you go on, and find yourself in a totally new, undeveloped area where you can come up with a new idea.

You’re saying that if we’ve got the perfect tools, the risk is if everyone uses them perfectly then there’ll be no originality?

Well, tools are perfect, and they should be used perfectly, but only at a stage when you’ve found a new idea. I compare it to the front yard and the back yard of your house. A lot of people are only in their front yard with their work. That’s where people pass by, where they can see the finished project.