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Terms and Conditions
Introduction
Welcome to TONGUES, provided by Voodoo Voodoo Ltd (“we”, “us”, “our”). Access to and use of this website (“TONGUES”) is provided by us on the basis of a number of important terms and conditions, which are set out in full below.
You should carefully read these terms and conditions (“terms”). When you use TONGUES, you will be legally bound by these terms, which will take effect from your first use of TONGUES. If you do not agree to be legally bound by these terms, then you should not use TONGUES>.
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Changes to Terms
We are continually seeking to update and improve TONGUES. As a result, we may make changes to TONGUES, including these terms, at any time. You will need to review these terms regularly so that you are aware of any changes we have made. You will be legally bound by the updated or amended terms from the first time that you use TONGUES after we post the changes on-line.
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Third party websites
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We can accept no liability to you for any of the following types of loss (should you suffer any of them as a result of your use of TONGUES):
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Remedies
To the extent that we are practically able to do so, we may terminate your access to any part of TONGUES at any time without notice if you breach any of the terms.
General
If any of these terms are determined to be illegal, invalid or otherwise unenforceable then the remaining terms shall remain in full force and effect.
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© TONGUES — An initiative by Voodoo Voodoo Ltd

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Privacy & Cookies Policy
Introduction
The tongues.cc website is operated by Voodoo Voodoo Ltd (‘TONGUES’).
This privacy policy applies to TONGUES.
We want you to enjoy our website and services secure in the knowledge that we have implemented fair information practices to protect your privacy. By visiting our website, you are accepting the practices described in our privacy policy, including our use of cookies and similar online tracking technologies. If you do not agree to the terms of this privacy policy, please do not use the website.
TONGUES may change this policy from time to time by updating this page and you should regularly check to ensure that you are happy with any changes. This policy was last updated on 11 February 2020.
The policy outlines:
1. General principle
2. How we collect information
3. Types of information we may collect
4. How we use your information
5. How we protect the information we collect
6. Access to your personal information
7. How to contact us
1. General principle
There are two types of information we may collect from you when you use the website: non-personally identifiable information and personally identifiable information. Non-personally identifiable information does not individually identify you, but it may include tracking and usage information about your general location, demographics, use of the website and the internet. Personally identifiable information is information that you voluntarily provide when you set up a user account, subscribe to a newsletter, or query that can individually identify you and may include your name and email address etc.
We do not link non-personally identifiable information to your personally identifiable information.
We do not share either type of information unless required to run the website and services (see third-party services below). We will never sell either type of information.
This privacy policy does not apply to any information collected outside of the website, including offline or through other means (for example, via telephone or through email), unless otherwise stated below or at the time of collection.
2. How we collect information
We collect information when you:
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— Answer a reader survey
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Links to other websites, social media platforms
Our website may contain links to other websites of interest. However, once you have used these links to leave our website, you should note that we do not have any control over the information that is collected and shared about you. You should exercise caution and look at the privacy statement applicable to the website in question.
You may interact with content on our website through social media platforms we use such as Facebook by using their social features. Examples of social features include ‘liking’ or ‘sharing’ our content. We encourage you to review their policies before using their tools, which can be found at their respective websites. If you’d prefer that these social media platforms do not collect information about the content you share and use, we suggest that you don’t use their tools.
3. Types of information we may collect
The types of information we may collect includes:
— Account information (email address)
— Information you provide through a TONGUES reader survey which might include age range, education level etc
TONGUES is not responsible for any information you have provided in public areas of our website or on our social media platforms, which may then be viewed by other users.
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The information we collect may be used to help us:
— Provide services you voluntarily subscribed to such as email newsletters
— Improve the quality of our website
— Promote services to you including advising you of updates or changes to our website and services
— Improve the website through reader surveys and feedback
Disclosure to third-party services
As part of providing our website and services to you we use a limited number of third-party services that perform functions on our behalf, including but not limited to website hosting, server monitoring, tracking user behaviour, marketing automation services, and customer service.
We have no control over, and assume no responsibility for, the conduct, practices or privacy policies of these third-party services and encourage you to read the policies of the services we use below:
TONGUES uses the MailerLite marketing automation service to issue newsletters. Find out more about MailerLite’s Privacy Policy and Terms.
When you subscribe to our email newsletters
By clicking ‘Subscribe’ you agree to the following: 
We will use the email address you provide to send you a weekly or monthly email. We also send occasional updates and, no more than once a year, reader surveys. 
The email address/es you provide will be transferred to our external marketing automation service ‘MailerLite’ for processing in accordance with their Privacy Policy and Terms. We use MailerLite to issue our newsletters. We have no control over, and assume no responsibility for, the conduct, practices or privacy policies of MailerLite
Unsubscribing
You can change your mind at any time by clicking the ‘unsubscribe link’ in the footer of emails you receive from us, or by contacting us at [email protected]. If you want to review and correct the personal information we have about you, you can click on ‘update preferences’ in the footer of emails you receive from us, or by contacting us at [email protected].
5. How we protect the information we collect
We are committed to ensuring that your information is secure. We have taken reasonable measures to protect information about you from loss, theft, misuse or unauthorised access, disclosure, alteration and destruction. No physical or electronic security system is impenetrable however and you should take your own precautions to protect the security of any personally identifiable information you transmit. We cannot guarantee that the personal information you supply will not be intercepted while transmitted to us or third-party service providers. 
Sharing your personal information
We will not disclose your personal information except; (1) as described by this Privacy Policy (2) after obtaining your permission to a specific use or disclosure or (3) if we are required do so by a valid legal process or government request (such as a court order, a search warrant, a subpoena, a civil discovery request, or a statutory requirement). We will retain your information for as long as needed in light of the purposes for which it was obtained or to comply with our legal obligations and enforce our agreements. 
Data transfer
This website is published in the United Kingdom. If you are located in a country outside of these countries and voluntarily submit personally identifiable information to us, you should be aware that information about you will be transferred to this countries. We attempt to comply with local data protection laws to the extent that they may apply to TONGUES. 
Age of consent
Our website is not directed at children under the age of 18 and we do not knowingly collect or maintain information from those we know are younger than 18. If you are younger than 18, you should not submit or post any personally identifiable information to our website. By using the Service, you represent that you are at least 18 years of age.
6. Access to your personal information
You may request a copy of the personal information we hold about you by submitting a written request to [email protected]. We may only implement requests with respect to the personal information associated with the particular email address you use to send us the request. We will try and respond to your request as soon as reasonably practical. When you receive the information, if you think any of it is wrong or out of date, you can ask us to change or delete it for you. 
We take all reasonable steps to ensure the information held is accurate, up-to-date, complete, relevant and not misleading. 
7. Contact us
If you have any questions about our privacy policy or our use of your information, please contact us at [email protected].

Archibald Godts & Theresa Bastek

February 04 / 2022

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Plastique is a collaboration between the Brussels-based designers Archibald Godts and Theresa Bastek. They founded the studio in 2017 after their studies at the Design Academy Eindhoven.

With a common passion for cross-cultural investigations and societal topics, their practice aims to forge links between the past, the present and the future, the ratio and the heart, the material and the emotional, the real and the virtual, the human and the machine. By doing so, their work embodies the human needs among the rigid structures we are surrounded by, in a way that feels obvious or sometimes absurd.

This striving for empathic approaches in an increasingly dehumanised world, combined with the necessary rational methodology, results in environments and objects conceived for human life to bloom, as well as critical reactions on contemporary phenomena and envisions of future scenarios.

 

Q >How did you decide to start your collaboration and create Studio Plastique? How has it evolved till today?

A >When we graduated, the idea that, as designers, we would potentially be contributing to filling the world with more unnecessary mass-produced stuff stripped of any character, meaning or grace, quite frankly horrified us. Instead, we found a common desire to address the many challenges our world is facing. The studio explores design’s potential impact on the world, and how it can instil change. We do this by investigating available resources and material supply chains, production processes and their social and environmental impact, and by designing end-of-life scenarios for objects. Our work challenges common concepts such as ownership, and explores the social, ecological and economic sustainability of design.

Q >Could you tell us some examples of topics that you often discuss within your practice, and which areas of study do you think are breaking new ground?

A >The material world, the mining, trade, exchange, processing and consumption of commodities and the correlation between those on a geopolitical level are definitely aspects that preoccupy and motivate us at the studio. As designers we consider design as a tool to investigate holistic scenarios in which all actors collaborate to generate sustainable value. This is breaking ground, unfortunately, as this approach is not mainstream yet, although it does gain ground slowly but surely. This is due to the lack of education of emerging professionals with the tools to bring such investigations to the real world. But we also observe, of course, how commitment of certain industries is lacking or remains very superficial. Setting strong and beautiful cases in the world will contribute to a better understanding of what design and collaboration can mean.

Q >Tell us about your most unconventional project.

A >Educating education might be considered an unconventional project as education at large is not usually a matter approached through design. We observe however, through the knowledge acquired along this research project, that design can contribute to this. The analytical skills in combination with the skills to make ideas tangible, material and attractive makes us, as designers, a discipline that should definitely be involved around the table of educational reform. So far, our project could only highlight the necessity for a reform of the educational systems worldwide as we are still educating people following very old systems dating back to the industrial revolution and beyond. We are not educating people to function in the current world. We would love to be involved in the process of helping education to be a better designed system.

Q >Building upon research and transdisciplinary work — tell us about your process, how you consider different sustainability criteria, and the partnerships that help bring your ideas to fruition.

A >For us, sustainability is a term that refers not only to the natural environment but also the environments at large — the people involved in the production processes, the consumers and their actual needs and the economy. Only if all these factors are considered holistically, something sustainable can be created. We very much enjoy the process of uncovering the forces at play and contexts involved. We like to involve as many stakeholders and people as possible in the process from the beginning on. Along the way, when things start to materialise, further collaborations are initiated, and this usually happens quite naturally. In these collaborations it is important that we feel a mutual generosity, curiosity and desire to work without compromise. Collaborations don’t always happen with likeminded people, but at the end of the day a mutual desire for an outstanding proposal is what brings us together. For too long, industries, companies and individuals have been denying the responsibilities linked to our human activities. Man-made stuff needs to be considered from beginning to end, that means from the mining and processing of resources and materials to the user scenarios and end-of-life scenarios. We can no longer focus on one aspect alone and pretend “someone else will deal with the consequences”. This way of thinking is very immature and has proven to be wreaking havoc.

 

Common Sands — Forite Tiles. In collaboration with Snøhetta and Fornace Brioni. Photography by Oioioi

 

Q >How do you balance the creative and the technical aspects when thinking of a project?

A >With in-depth research and understanding, technical challenges have the tendency to resolve. For us the creativity lies in the way we can apply properties such as material properties for applications that make a right match. In that sense one could say we love technical challenges. Therefore, we believe creativity and technical understanding go hand in hand.

Q >Tell us about your most challenging and/or rewarding project, and why?

A >Current Age, an investigation of electricity as a seemingly indispensable source of energy today.

As designers, this immaterial phenomenon isn’t an obvious matter of choice. But considering it forms the very base for modern life, culture, communication, industry, medicine, technical development and research… it seemed inevitable to take our roles as designers further than the design of lamps; the final use of electricity that is. If, as designers, our tasks can be to shape a lamp, should it not also include the way the light comes into it?

We looked at four general themes: the use, the infrastructure, the ways electricity are generated and the fascinating magic of electricity as a phenomenon. In the end it remains a natural phenomenon that we managed to tame and reproduce at large.

For the exhibition we have engaged and worked with a large variety of stakeholders such as grid operators, energy providers, innovators, university academics, European lobbyists for sustainable energy and high-tech as well as low-tech experts. We were invited by Z33 to create an exhibition and we have had about 6 months to research, create and design this public moment. Inevitably this generates a whole load of new opportunities. Even though the exhibition is now over, the work has really just started.

 

Current Age (exhibition view). Photography by Selma Gurbuz

 

Q >You have recently received the Henry van de Velde Young Talent Gold Award in Belgium and the SYN Award in Germany — tell us what are your next goals as designers, and how these recognitions might help you push forward your ambitions?

A >Recognitions such as these provide a necessary and welcome motivation by rewarding the hard work and making it worth the while. They also confirm the course of the studio towards our clients and collaborators. We look forward to keep on reaching out to the diversity of contexts out there and work on beautiful projects together.

Q >Awareness, obstacles and opportunities — what are the key contemporary issues we should be addressing, and how do you see design practises evolving to tackle these issues?

A >Finding your own way of being of meaning to the world in all its facets, to your community… as a designer is defining. There are so many ways of making sensible and empathic contributions as a designer and the world urgently needs those.

Also reaching out to others is key: we see too often how projects fail to make a difference because they weren’t worked on from different perspectives and with as much knowledge on board as possible. And collaboration isn’t just meaningful but, foremost, rewarding.

 

Images courtesy © Studio Plastique

Common Sands — Forite Tiles (close-up). In collaboration with Snøhetta and Fornace Brioni. Photography by Oioioi

Common Sands — Vases. Photography by Studio Plastique

Common Sands — Vases. Photography by Studio Plastique

Current Age (close-up) — Exploration of electric generation technologies. Photography by Selma Gurbuz

Current Age (exhibition view) — Thermographic videos of everyday electric appliances. Photography by Selma Gurbuz

Current Age — Lamp. In times were our relationship to electricity is increasingly abstracted, the lamp offers a tangible experience with the electric phenomenon. Photography by Selma Gurbuz