Newcomer Finalist 2020, Maximilian Goßler
Born 1991 in Roth, Germany Study 2012 to 2019 at the State Academy of Fine Arts, Stuttgart, Department of Industrial Design, graduated with a diploma Current occupation freelance industrial designer since 2019.
Maximilian Goßler completed his industrial design studies at the State Academy of Fine Arts in Stuttgart with a diploma in 2019. Since 2015, his projects have focused more intensively on machines and artificial intelligence systems (AI).
He has a special interest in the abilities and limits of artificial intelligence, and his work explores how our future could and should be transformed by the omnipresence of AI. Maximilian Goßler has been working as a freelance industrial designer since 2019. His projects have already been presented at exhibitions in Milan and Berlin
A few questions to Maximilian Goßler:
You are a Newcomer Finalist at the German Design Awards 2020. What does this award mean for you and your work?
This award means a great deal to me, since it shows me that the topic of artificial intelligence will continue to play a central role for us designers in the future, and therefore encourages me to continue playing an active role in these developments.
What do you see as making for good industrial design in the 21st century?
For me, good, up-to-date industrial design is characterised by an integrated design approach that not only defines the product, but also considers its context. Using interdisciplinary working practices and holistic methods for designing a product — from »What can it do?« and »How do I use it?« through to »What does it look like?« — fantastic products can be developed that do not create any further new problems themselves.
You have been involved with machines and artificial intelligence systems since 2015, and your portfolio shows that you have already gained attention with some remarkable projects. Which of these projects is particularly close to your heart and why?
I am particularly proud of the Creativity of the Machine project. This project gave me the opportunity to intensively engage in the implementation of my own machine intelligence. This provocative attempt to replace myself as a designer with a machine that independently designs chairs taught me a lot about the actual capabilities and limitations of AI.
What challenges, opportunities, and maybe also risks, do you think AI will present to our society in the future in general, and in the field of industrial design in particular?
One great future challenge will be to use AI in a reflective and transparent way. It is becoming more and more difficult to distinguish man and machine by their actions only, even though they’re essentially different. It is precisely in this difference – of machines with human-like abilities – that great opportunity lies, since a machine is often faster and more uniform in its work, and it makes far fewer mistakes. It would be massively risky to put blind our trust in this machine, however, since it has no understanding of the concept of a bad decision. But a teaming up of man and machine could produce great leaps forward in many areas in the future.