Ben Laloua, from graphic design duo Ben Laloua / Didier Pascal, will give a lecture on February 20th on her REHAB-project in Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam.

The lecture is part of the Studium Generale of the Gerrit Rietveld Academie which, under the title ‘Value for Nothing’, has found accommodation in SMBA for a period of six weeks. All lectures revolve around the question of what values designers and artists should be focusing on today, if design is a matter of creating values.

REHAB consists of an outdoor poster campaign in Amsterdam, a number of ‘soft-media’ and wall paintings in the exhibition space, and a publication of the same name. REHAB turns the spotlight on a recent media phenomenon: advertisements, commercials, reports, TV programmes and even everyday news items have become pure entertainment. Their boundaries and links to reality are eroding. The autonomy that the media displays is to be seen particularly in the global interest in ‘celebs’ like Paris Hilton, Britney Spears and Pete Doherty. People we have come to associate with the vapidity and emptiness of contemporary life. Nonetheless, they grace the covers of glossy magazines almost daily, and even pervade the serious media. Is this merely one of the traits of an aggressive omniscient media industry or something closer to a modern morality tale?

The exhibition in SMBA also shows subject related work by Christian Jankowski and Meiro Koizumi.

Location: Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam

Time: 20 February, 4:00 p.m.

Language: English

Free admission

REHAB poster campaign

The REHAB poster campaign will be continued from 27 February until 11 March. Two new Rehab-posters by Ben Laloua / Didier Pascal will be shown in 100 MUPIs – illuminated street billboards –

throughout Amsterdam.

REHAB publication

The book REHAB by Ben Laloua / Didier Pascal contains after-images of recent rehab stories about Paris, Britney and Pete, culled from various media and the headlines that accompanied them.

Design: Mevis & Van Deursen, Amsterdam.

Short introduction by Stine Jensen and Jelle Bouwhuis (EN/NL)

72 pages in English/Dutch

Sale price: € 25

Publisher: Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam / episode publishers, Rotterdam

www.episode-publishers.nl

Click for more information about REHAB and the Studium Generale