Informed by natural habitats and processes, the creative duo OrtaMiklos’ experimental approach activates their design works from existing norms. OrtaMiklos’ process originates in improvisation and spontaneity, with many of their ideas beginning in guerrilla performances.
Leo Orta (b. 1993, Paris) and Victor Miklos Andersen (b. 1992, Kalundborg) formed OrtaMiklos in 2015 while studying at the Design Academy Eindhoven. Since its establishment OrtaMiklos has drawn inspiration from a wide variety of references, such as body movements and contortion, graffiti, and animation. Utilizing ad hoc sculpting and coloring processes, the duo employs materials spanning from electronic waste to widely available construction supplies like concrete and wood pulp.
“We have defined our way of working as ignorant design, forcing our work to be unaware of ongoing trends, colour themes or material values. People may feel at ease to place it here or there, it’s not made for a specific place or group. We always thought that being free from these frames and borders was a good way to explore and have fun in our making,” says OrtaMiklos.
Their collaborations include projects with London-based menswear designer Kiko Kostadinov on his first permanent space at Dover Street Market, London menswear Martine Rose and with curator Hans Ulrich Obrist on staging a multidisciplinary performance as part of Reference Berlin Festival.
OrtaMiklos has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions internationally; such as in Icebergs In Progress at Museo Marino Marini in Florence, Foncteur d’oubli at Le Plateau Frac Ile-de-France, and at the Kleureyck: Van Eyck’s Colors in Design at Design Museum in Ghent in 2020, which will be travelling to Le Tripostal in Lille in 2021. Recently, they collaborated with digital artist Janis Melderis, composer Amédée De Murcia, and writer Richard Johnston Jones to realize a virtual occupation of the Temple of Dendur installed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art entitled Temple of Confinement (2020).
Leo Orta and Victor Miklos Andersen separated from OrtaMiklos in 2021 to develop their individual studio practices.
