hube no. 1

This is where the journey begins.

In the very first issue of hube we were honored to work with inspiring thinkers, innovators, and trailblazers to navigate possible futures through new forms and new ideas.

We begin with a conversation between Ira Solomatina and fashion designer, innovator, curator, and legendary Head of Fashion at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp, the inimitable Walter Van Beirendonck, who opens up about his time as part of the Antwerp Six, and shares his thoughts on gender and masculinity, the balance between digital and physical, and where he thinks fashion is headed. In his own words: “we need new eyes to see the future”.

We seek to understand the architecture of fluids and electrons with Aki Ishida, who asks whether architecture in the metaverse can be as genuine as architecture in the physical world.

Patrik Schumacher from Zaha Hadid Architects replies in the affirmative. For him, the metaverse is “not a game of entertainment or fantastical escape from social reality, but a functional space for communication, information exchange, and collaboration.”

The London-based design duo Auroboros imagines digital fashion as part of a utopian future. Fascinated by the theory of animal magnetism, created by the controversial 18th century German physician Franz Mesmer, they design digital garments that almost appear to live.

From the digital world, we return to the physical as we dive into the vibrant creative scene of Nigeria, where photographer Stephen Tayo and hube fashion director Gabriella Norberg captured Africa’s artistic energy through local designers and talents.

We meet with Mic Mann, founder of Africa’s first metaverse Africarare, the multidisciplinary artist and LGBTQIA+ activist Leilah Babirye, the creative director of Maison ARTC Artsi Ifrach, and artist Nana Isaac Akwasi Opoku. Each share with hube their reflections on their own work, Black creativity, and the philosophy and impact of Afrofuturism.

We slow down a bit to visit After Dark, Elmgreen & Dragset’s latest exhibition in Hangzhou, China. The artistic duo move beyond the visual and verbal and delve into the sensory and the audible. We asked them what they think about modern human beings. They described them as “Helpless and sweet”.

Pavel Prigara speaks with one of the world’s best-known contemporary philosophers and cognitive scientists David Chalmers, who discusses the value of beauty and harmony for human consciousness, but it seems both are more interested in its dark sides.

Meanwhile, Abby Klinkenberg approaches beauty as a measure of ecological intelligence. Speaking with several innovative designers she explores the creative potential of biomimicry and biomaterials. These artists and designers make leather from mushrooms, plates from bones, polymers from pollution, life from death. Should we call them magicians?

What about performance art? The recently appointed Head of Fashion at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Brandon Wen, welcomed us to his home in Antwerp. Together with his close friend and colleague Amir Torres, he created an exclusive performance, in which “the meaning comes from what is happening in the moment.”

Later we followed YIANNIS PAPPAS to Berlin’s Altes Museum where TAREK MAWAD captured his new performance, an intriguing attempt to subvert the monolithic discourse that surrounds the classical ideals of art, philosophy, and democracy found in ancient Greece.

FLORIS WINCKEL explores the magical world of FUJIKO NAKAYA: a pioneer of the contemporary art scene in Japan, internationally renowned for her immersive fog artworks.

And for those as crazy about poetry as we are, read on to enjoy frank, tender, and vigorous poems by Donte Collins and Sayaka Osaki.

We hope you enjoy the very first issue of hube as much as we enjoyed the process of creating it for you.