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UK based design Trio Troika is founded in 2003 by Conny
Freyer, Eva Rucki and Sebastien Noel who met while studying at the Royal College of Art in London. Troika
has since gotten wide attention for a number ingenious projects, which have been described as subversive
and thought provoking. They say, "Our approach focuses on the contamination between the arts and
design disciplines and is born out of the same love for simplicity, playfulness, and an essential desire for
provocation." Case in point is their 2005 project, "Tool for Armchair Activists", an installation born out of a
response to the British government's ban on "unauthorized" protests outside the Houses of Parliament. This
installation featured a machine that received comments, complaints and protests against this ban via SMS,
which then transferred and read out the messages from a megaphone directed at the very location where
the law makers banned the protests. People have sat up and taken note. Troika has been commissioned
by Artwise Curators to create a signature piece, 'Cloud', located at the entrance of the new British Airways
luxury lounges in Heathrow Terminal 5. This fascinating sculpture utilizes Flip-dots that were commonly used
in the 70's and 80s for signage. Currently, Troika is exhibiting their 'SMS Guerrilla Projector' at
ExperimentalDesign Amsterdam. This home made device is another interactive tool with the potential for
empowering the individual, by allowing the user to project text based SMS messages in public spaces, or
wherever the user wishes. Troika have also put out a book this year, "Digital by Design : Crafting Technology
for Products and Environments."
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