At the invitation of curator Guta Moura Guedes, Clemens Weisshaar and Reed Kram were commissioned to design a site specific installation for the exhibition FLEXIBILITY, one of the four main shows on the occasion of TORINO WORLD DESIGN CAPITAL 2008.

The installation titled JAILBREAK is positioned in the central cell block of the former prison and shows 17 models of objects from the VENDOME series, the latest project of the office that was introduced during DESIGN MIAMI/ BASEL in early June 2008. Developed for the DESIGNERS OF THE FUTURE AWARD 2008, this body of work takes a precondition of endless and flexible transformation as its point of departure. In the spirit of Weisshaar and Kram's crucial project BREEDING TABLES (2003-ongoing), the idea of VENDOME is to parametrically generate a family of unique concrete objects with diverse typologies including stools, pedestals and tables through the use of advanced software. The entire edition is limited to 99 designs.

A custom-developed computer program generates an infinite number of proposals while flexibly reacting to changing parameters such as the height, width or depth of the object. The proposals are then singled out and fine-tuned by the designers using the software. At the press of a button a selected geometry can be processed and the technical specifications for the casting mould are generated and passed on to numerically controlled machines. Still, the designer's decisions and handicraft are not meant to be replaced by the program. In fact they represent the decisive factors for the fine tuning of the design and the finishing of the cast object, assuring the quality of the unique pieces.

The installation JAILBREAK in Turin presents a selection of scale 1:1 cardboard models for VENDÔME stools, pedestals and tables. That the solid concrete of the VENDÔME pieces was replaced with the makeshift material cardboard hints at the potentiality of change and the infinite formal solutions inscribed in the series, but also at the central role of manual labour within the process. The models are piled up to a three storey high tower evocative of DNA-strands. In its evolutionary character JAILBREAK thus points out the essential characteristics of the project: physical permanence vs. endless mutation and development.

Other participants in the FLEXIBILITY exhibition include Ross Lovegrove, Patrizia Urquiola and Matali Crasset.