City as an Infrastructure for Language
A conversation with Experimental Jetset
Experimental Jetset is an Amsterdam-based graphic design collective founded in 1997 by Marieke Stolk, Erwin Brinkers and Danny van den Dungen. The trio met at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie and have been running the studio together ever since. Their projects range from printed matter and identities to site-specific installations. Their work is strongly informed by language and its various applications: they describe their methodology as “turning language into objects”.
They’ve published several books about their work. The latest book Superstructures (2021) reflects on their practice through the lens of language and its connection to the city, drawing parallels from the movements Constructivism, Situationism, Provo and Post-Punk. We were eager to talk to them about their work in relation to public space, their daily wanderings through the city of Amsterdam and earlier projects that concern the Provo movement active in the mid-1960s. We meet the trio on an early spring afternoon at their studio over some tea and cookies gathered around a round meeting table and surrounded by sketches and maquettes from their ongoing and earlier projects.
