Deviation is the norm, exception is the rule.

Height: 52 cm, weight: 3410 g, head circumference: 36 cm. Scale and measuring tape welcome us into the world and determine how much we deviate from the calculated norm. They are harbingers of a civilization with a fetish for measured values and prognosis. From rulers to spectrometers, from Geiger counters to quartz clocks – there is an enormous variety of instruments to make our disorderly world understandable, conditions comparable and things possessable. But standardization is deceptive: what gets measured and which units and tolerances are applied is by no means objective, but an expression of power relations, infrastructures and cultural identities. Whoever measures has power.

DIN2121 is taking this power in order to survey the future with a series of highly specialized measuring instruments. Seven industrial designers and seven measuring tools from the year 2121 materialize a new, alternate world and assess its potentials. For WIENWOCHE, the tools were presented and demonstrated in a place that has always been a central stage for measuring, valuing and weighing: the market. DIN2121, together with visitors measured and recalibrated visions of the future during the festival.

© Mariel Bongola