Titan
Commissioned by Carpenters Workshop Gallery, Titan is a pair of sister lounge chairs comprising hand-scuffed recycled acrylic anchored to rough-cut Italian marble boulders using laser-sintered stainless steel anchors. Titan is imagined to belong both to the rugged black sand beaches of New Zealand’s west coast and to the rocky surface of some distant celestial body. Titan Ice and Titan Ash were released in a limited edition of eight in Paris in 2024.
Steel and Stone
First exhibited in 2019, Steel and Stone is an ever-expanding series of limited edition furniture works where minimal sheet metal structures wrap protectively around natural rocks to create functional chairs, tables, benches, lights, vases, and mirrors. The Steel and Stone series has been exhibited in Paris, New York, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Copenhagen, and Sydney; editions from this collection reside in public and private collections worldwide.
Maungataniwha
Maungataniwha is an ongoing research project in Aotearoa New Zealand, where Batten and Kamp are digitizing dinosaur fossils from a near-forgotten paleontological program, documenting endangered local flora and exploring the country’s largest private nature reserve and rewilding project. Teaser video by Batten and Kamp, 2024.
Elsewhere
Commissioned by Novalis Art Design, Elsewhere is a collection of limited edition furniture and sculptural works bringing together cast aluminium branches, hand-blown neon lights, cut boulders, and silks printed with imagery from New Zealand forests and NASA satellites. Conceived during the years of lockdown, following a period of massive civil unrest in Hong Kong, and refined during a 31-day stint in a hermetically sealed glass room in a Covid Isolation hospital, Elsewhere channels science fiction dreaming both to escape the present and examine it from a fictional future. Elsewhere was launched on Hypebeast and exhibited at a solo show at Novalis Art Design in Hong Kong in 2021.
Sex Tape
In a departure from Batten and Kamp’s usual themes, Sex Tape is a coffee table comprising the couple’s sex tape saved on a USB drive and sealed between layers of laminated glass. This unique piece was commissioned by Novalis Art Design and exhibited in the group show ‘Sex Be With You’ in 2023.
“With Sex Tape, we ask our audience what they really want from us and ask ourselves what we really want to give. It's about boundaries and temptation, the vulnerability of art-making, and the self-perpetuated commodification of our relationship.”
Steel and Stone Piano
The Steel and Stone Piano is an articulated, sculptural, and fully functional midi-controlled electronic piano. Fabricated from stainless steel and anchored by found stone, the piano extends Batten and Kamp’s Steel and Stone language into the realm of music, through collaboration with digital artist and pianist Henry Chu. The Steel and Stone piano was presented at Art Basel Hong Kong 2023 with Gallery Ora Ora.
Comfort Seeker Seeker
Mid-century comfort-seeking meets modern-day technological fatalism in this terrifyingly cute design-fiction warning; a hybrid of an Eames LCW and a Boston Dynamics Spot. Comfort Seeker Seeker was conceived and designed by Batten and Kamp in 2023. Animation by Services Generaux.
Experiments
Batten and Kamp’s assemblage approach to the design process produces an endless stream of object experiments combining disparate materials, processes, and ideas.
F10W3R
F10W3R is a physical-digital assemblage sculpture created in collaboration with digital artist Henry Chu. Presented at the world’s first Digital Art fair in 2022, the piece comprises an animated abstract flower on a circular display with exposed electronics mounted to raw green marble.
Terra Incognita
Commissioned by Art Central Hong Kong and installed during the art fair as a solo exhibition in 2022, Terra Incognita was a surrealistic garden comprised of sculptures and studio materials recalling the majestic landscapes of Batten and Kamp’s youth. The title of the installation is borrowed from the name given to the imagined great southern continent which European explorers competed to ‘discover’ before they were aware of Aotearoa New Zealand. The installation speaks to the romanticisation of distant lands, whether inspired by a longing for the simplicity of youth or the desire for conquest.
Hong Kong
A short film of Batten and Kamp’s life and practice in Hong Kong in 2021. Film by Trance Films, music by Alex Purdue.