BIOGRAPHY
Established in 2005, Random International is a postdigital art group exploring the impact of technological development on the human condition. Best known for their large-scale interactive installations, the group works across an array of media including sculpture, light, kinetics, video, print, and sound. Led by founders Hannes Koch (b.1975, Germany) and Florian Ortkrass (b.1975, Germany), the group has a studio in London and comprises a global team of complementary talent. Experimental by nature, Random International’s practice is fuelled by research and scientific discovery. The group channels irrepressible collective energy—mediated via the machine—into acts of public co-creation, which invite subjective experiences of consciousness.
Random International aims to broaden the question of what it is to be alive today by experimenting with how we connect: to different kinds of life, to different views of the world, and to one another.
Photo by Mark Davis
TEAM
Irem Bugdayci, Designer
From Istanbul, Turkey
BA Art History & Architecture, Tufts University
MArch, DFPI, Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL
Irem is a designer with a background in architecture and interactive design. She works with the team to design and execute the studios vision into tangible formats. Her passion for developing embodied experiences emerges from a curiosity to explore the interface between art, technology and neuroscience
Pierre Tardif, Senior Creative Developer
From Clermont-Ferrand, France
Engineering Degree of Signal Processing at ENSEA (Cergy, France), BA in metrology (Clermont-Ferrand),
Pierre Tardif is a french creative coder whose academic engineering background in signal processing for image and sound forms the foundation of his practice. Real-time rendering and new technologies are the main components of his work. Customising software in combination with hardware installations, his projects manifest into unique experiential pieces
Federico Ciuffa, Projects Lead
From Rome, Italy
BEng Civil Engineering Kingston University, MSc Environmental Engineering & Business Management Imperial College
With a background in civil engineering and construction, Federico guides and propels the execution and integration of the studios large scale projects at sites across the globe. He excels at ensuring a smooth execution of ambitious multi-disciplinary project
Héloïse Reynolds, Dramaturg
From Liverpool, UK
BA University College London, MA Courtauld Institute of Art
The context and implications of the studio’s practice are central to Héloïse’s role. She enjoys taking a long perspective on the relationship between humankind and technology, expanding from her classicist background. An art historian and writer, she contributes to the conceptualisation, development, and delivery of the studio’s work, overseeing all publications, interpretative material, programming, research, and archiving
Esteban Schunemann, Head Of Technology
From Bogotá, Colombia
BA Brunel University, PhD Brunel University
Esteban works on the technological development and implementation of the studio's work. Joining the studio shortly after completing a PhD in additive manufacturing, he takes a methodical approach, actively deconstructing purpose and function to distill the composite of ideas into purer forms. Interested in all facets of technology and science, he explores how they can be implemented in new and unexpected applications
CHRONOLOGY
| Year | Exhibition | Location | Dates |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | After the Machine | Jeddah, Saudi Arabia | September - December 2024 |
| 2024 | Human Algorithm, Matters Through Matter | Jeddah, Saudi Arabia | February - March 2024 |
| 2023 | Life in a Different Resolution (solo) | Nxt Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands | September 2023 - September 2024 |
| 2023 | When Tomorrow Comes | Noor Riyadh Festival, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia | November 2023 - March 2024 |
| 2023 | Turnstiles and Everything And Nothing | Industrial Art Exhibition, Dammam, Saudi Arabia | December 2023 |
| 2023 | Living Room / Variation I | Noor Riyadh Festival, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia | November - December 2023 |
| 2023 | Future Self (with Studio Wayne McGregor and Max Richter) | Ladbroke Hall, London | October 2023 |
| 2023 | Life In A Day | MIT Museum, Massachusetts, USA | October 2022 - September 2023 |
| 2019 | Kinds of Life (permanent work) | Great Ormond Street Hospital, London | 2019 |
| 2019 | Physical Algorithm (solo) | Paradise City Art Space | From October 2019 |
| 2019 | Out of Control (solo) | MoCA Busan, South Korea | From August 2019 |
| 2019 | Rain Room at Jackalope Art Pavilion | Melbourne, Australia | From August 2019 |
| 2019 | Dysfunctional (group exhibition) | Galleria Giorgio Franchetti alla Ca'd'Oro | From April 2019 |
| 2018 | Self and Other (for the Albert Embankment) (permanent work) | Albert Embankment, London | From July 2018 |
| 2018 | Rain Room (permanent work) | Sharjah Art Foundation, UAE | From May 2018 |
| 2018 | Everything & Nothing | Yuz Museum, Shanghai | 20 April — 2 September 2018 |
| 2018 | Rain Room | Yuz Museum, Shanghai | From April 2018 |
| 2017 | Zoological (part of ‘+/- Human’ by Wayne McGregor) | Roundhouse London | August 2017 |
| 2017 | Home is not a Place (Group Exhibition) | German Embassy London | June 2017 |
| 2017 | Glasstress (Group Exhibition) | Palazzo Franchetti, Venice | La Biennale Di Venezia, 2017 |
| 2016 | On The Body | Pace Gallery, 537 West 24th Street New York | 23 September — 22 October 2016 |
| 2016 | Everything & Nothing | Manchester Museum of Science & Industry | 22 July 2016 — 25 June 2017 |
| 2016 | Swarm Study / IX | Chemnitz Station, Germany | From September 2016 |
| 2016 | Swarm Study / IX Research Exhibition | Former Jewish Girls School Berlin | 4 June — 17 Sep 2016 |
| 2016 | 150 Milliseconds | Le Laboratoire Cambridge Massachusetts | 22 April — 1 July 2016 |
| 2015 | Rain Room | Los Angeles County Museum of Art, LA | 1 November 2015 — 6 March 2016 |
| 2015 | Aspect (White) | Lichtsicht Biennale | 18 September 2015 — 7 February 2016 |
| 2015 | Rain Room | Yuz Museum, Shanghai | 1 September — 31 December 2015 |
| 2015 | FOMO | La Friche Belle de Mai, Marseille | 14 May — 2 August 2015 |
| 2014 | Studies In Motion | Lundskonsthall Lund | 27 September — 16 November 2014 |
| 2013 | Tower: Instant Structure for Schacht XII | Ruhrtriennale | 23 August — 6 October 2013 |
| 2013 | EXPO 1: New York / Rain Room | MoMA, New York | 12 May — 28 July 2013 |
| 2012 | Rain Room | Barbican, London | 4 October 2012 — 3 March 2013 |
| 2012 | Before The Rain | Carpenters Workshop Gallery, Paris | 8 September — 21 December 2012 |
| 2011 | Rewriting Worlds 4th Moscow Biennale for Contemporary Art | Moscow | 2011 |
| 2011 | Swarm Study / III | Victoria & Albert Museum London | Since June 2011 |
| 2011 | Reflex | The Wellcome Commission, Wellcome Trust, London | 2011 / 2012 |
| 2011 | Waste Not Want It | Bloomberg Space, London | January 2011 |
| 2010 | The Behaviour Of Objects | Carpenters Workshop Gallery | October 2010 |
| 2010 | Design Vertigo | Spazio Fendi Milan | 2010 |
| 2009 | DECODE | Victoria & Albert Museum, London | December 2009 |
| 2009 | Random International | Pinakothek Der Moderne, Munich | November 2009 |
| 2008 | Nowhere NOW HERE | Laboral Centro De Arte, Gijon | October 2008 |
| 2008 | Ignite | Royal Opera House, London | September 2008 |
| 2008 | Design and the Elastic Mind | MoMA, New York | February 2008 |
| 2007 | Spazio Krizia (with Ingo Maurer) | Milan | April 2007 |
| 2005 | JUNG+DEUTSCH | Berlin / Tokyo | 2005 |
COLLECTIONS
Museum of Modern Art New York, US
Victoria & Albert Museum London, UK
Sharjah Art Foundation Sharjah, UAE
Maxine & Stuart Frankel Foundation for Art Detroit, US
YUZ Foundation Shanghai, CN
Los Angeles County Museum of Art LA, US
Jackalope Pavillion, Melbourne, AUS
PUBLICATIONS
‘Life In A Different Resolution’ Mariana Berezovska and George King ed. Exhibition Catalogue Nxt Museum Amsterdam 2023 - 2025
‘150 Milliseconds’ H. Reynolds ed. Exhibition catalogue, Random International Berlin, June 2016
'Random International: Studies In Motion’ by C. Faust; A. Nacking; H. Reynolds; D. Vogues; J. Wainwright. Exhibition catalogue. Lunds konsthall, September 2014
‘The Retooling Issue’ by Peter Weibel, Parabol no.8, September 2014
‘Limits of Control: Rain Room and Immersive Environments’ by Felicity Scott, Artforum Volume 52, no.1, September 2013
Random International H.Reynolds ed. Limited edition artists’ book, reprinted in paperback. Carpenters Workshop Gallery / Random International, March 2013
‘Rewriting Worlds’ 4th Moscow Biennale for Contemporary Art N.Molok ed. Exhibition catalogue. Institute of Contemporary Art Moscow, September 2011