Portfolio of the Week: Vektor Junkies

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Portfolio of the Week: Vektor Junkies May 22, 2009

Torsten Posselt takes the idea of invention and runs with it, creating a whole gang of tech critters and devices that will certainly make your life more interesting. Torsten's inventions are sometimes mischievous, and always inventive...read on for our interview with this designer and computer craftsman who really knows the meaning of creative use of space.

Q: You run a website called VEKTORJUNKIES, which sounds like some kind of graphic designers' paradise. Tell us a little about it.

A: VEKTORJUNKIES is a sort of personal playground, based on various things I have done in the past like graffiti and graphic design. Current projects are featured as well. Right now I am working under the alias SORT OF, which I use to combine all these things and more, including every kind of media I like.

ICYS TK 5000 is a robot equipped with a camera and facial recognition software.

Q: You have your hand in a lot of creative pies, so to speak. Can you give us a short summary of a few of them?

A: I'm based in traditional graphic design, but in the last few years I've become more curious about topics like computer design and digital craftsmanship. I like electronic toys, interactive installations, filming, and good graphic design. Let's say I'm doing fun stuff for the kids who never really grew up.

Q: You have invented an amazing urban mini-golf device. How does it work?

A component of PUTPUT, the urban mini-golf device.

A: Oh, you mean PUTPUT, the black UFO! Actually it's a vacuum cleaner I hacked into and then modified to do something a bit more playful. It's now become a transportable mini-golf device that anyone can place in any urban location. It's supposed to reclaim city space in a fun way. It moves independently, recognizes obstacles, and is able to avoid them, even duck under them. The difficulty, of course, is trying to put a ball into a moving hole, but that makes it even more fun in the end.

Q: What are you working on right now, and what do you have planned for the future?

A: Right now I'm tinkering with Twitter. I must say I'm a bit doubtful about Twitter, which capitalizes on the image of singing little birds to produce a giant amount of useless information. I'm building a swarm of tech birds, who are going to translate the tweets of users into something that exists in the real world, not just the virtual one. The birds will be connected to the real Twitter interface so I can browse public timelines for specific keywords and see what people are saying. Then we'll see how much noise this sort of information really makes.