Depot Basel

As we’ve repeated ad nauseam Depot Basel is a project that has interested and excited us since the first show, but is a location that we’ve never manged to visit.

Happily when we were in Weil am Rhein for the opening of “Gerrit Rietveld – The Revolution of Space” at the Vitra Design Museum the smallest of small gaps opened in our schedule, and we seized the opportunity to sneak across the border.

Located in a former grain storage building on the site of a former railway freight yard next to a fully functioning dual carriageway, Depot Basel looks, if we’re brutally honest, like the picture perfect location for a contemporary design gallery.

A little too obvious. A little too New York ca. 1991. A little too post-industrial gentrification.

Fortunately, as a non-commercial project run by a small group of enthusiasts, the stereotypes are limited to the visuals.

The team behind Depot Basel have always been keen to stress that the project is neither a gallery, nor a museum, nor a showroom. Rather they see Depot Basel’s function as a space for mediating to the wider public what contemporary design, in all its multifarious facets, is, and where and how contemporary design interacts with all our lives.

To underscore this claim, Depot Basel exhibitions tend to be more interactive than one is generally used to. One isn’t just invited to view, discuss, enjoy an agreeable Müller-Thurgau and hopefully purchase something. Rather one is encouraged to participate, contribute and learn.

At Depot Basel design isn’t complicated and exclusive. It’s everyday.

Depot Basel. The obvious shot. But still lovin' it.

As we say we only had the smallest of small time-frames; the ICE to Frankfurt waits for no man. Not even us.

However, we did manage not only to undertake a quick tour of the exhibition space, but much more importantly catch up with Depot Basel co-founder Moritz Walther to talk about the background to and future off the project.

We’ve not included it in the interview, but what was particularly nice to hear was the moral support being offered to the project by, let’s say, one or the other major player in the Basel Metropolitan Area Design Gallery Scene. No names. No pack drill. Fantastic gesture.

Sadly we’re not going to make it to Design Miami Basel this year, but if you are going we can recommend dropping in at Depot Basel. Not least because bus 55 takes you from Basel Bad railway station (basically the Messe) to the Vitra Campus – via Depot Basel.

One bus. Three design highlights.

In less conservative societies that would be called a “Design Tour”

(smow)blog: The obvious opening, but how did everything begin ? What’s the background to Depot Basel ?

Moritz Walther: Last year the Stiftung Habitat [the trust fund who own the building and surrounding land] contacted Laura Pregger to ask if she had interest in developing a temporary project for this space. So we got together, contacted some people we thought might be interested, wrote a concept, won the pitch, and then started the difficult phase of financing the project. We had the space, but not the funds! However thanks to various institutions and supporters we were able to secure enough funding to start in August 2011

(smow)blog: Depot Basel is a temporary project, does that mean temporary temporary or just temporary in this location?

Moritz Walther: We definitely want to continue with the Depot Basel project. The use of this space is limited, we have it officially until the end of 2012, with, potentially, an option to continue until the end of 2013. But the idea and the concept should definitely be continued, but where and in which form has still to be decided.

(smow)blog: As regular visitors to Basel our perception is that the city already appears to have a lot of galleries and museums. Is that the case and where does Depot Basel fit in?

Moritz Walther: In Basel there are any awful lot of museums, but in terms of, lets say, haptic styling, there is only really the Vitra Design Museum; even if that isn’t technically in Basel, its influence is felt here. The city itself used to run an exhibition space for design, sadly that closed, and we really feel that such a location is necessary in Basel, also as an extension and contrast to all the art museums and galleries.

(smow)blog: You’re not a professional project, as in no-one is directly employed by Depot Basel, yet your currently showing your 6th exhibition, and preparing the 7th, and all within the first year. From a practical perspective; how do you organise the workload?

Moritz Walther: We have a master plan and within the context of that plan distribute the responsibilities amongst the team. So, for example, Laura  was principally responsible for the “Seats” exhibition, Matylda is filling the same role for the coming “Craft and Scenography” exhibition, Julia and Katharina the current “Bring a Ding” project. And then between the main exhibitions we also have the Insight series where individual designers present themselves, their work, their inspirations etc and then we also have film evenings. And for such events we all contribute where and when we can; but as you say we all have “real jobs” that pay the bills. Depot Basel is an unpaid, passion driven, project.

(smow)blog: The current exhibition “Bring a Ding” runs until May 27th. Briefly what is the background to the project, what is the aim?

Moritz Walther: The basic idea is to encourage children to understand the value of objects, and that objects which are damaged or no longer needed are not just rubbish but still have a meaning and a history. And so the children had to first choose an object, document the history and story of the object and then here with the help of three professional designers they modified the object or set it in a new context. And here in the exhibition we’re showing the whole process, from the research over the “redesigning” and of course the final objects.

(smow)blog: And to finish, what comes after Bring a Ding, what are the next projects

Moritz Walther: At the end of May we’ll remove the majority of the exhibits and then comes the Art Basel exhibition “Craft and Scenography”, which opens on June 11th and runs for a month. Then we’re having a short summer break before in August we open our “Musterzimmer” exhibition. Prototype or “show” rooms created to demonstrate current or future trends used to be regular feature of the furniture and architecture industries, and we want revive that tradition a little, and challenge young designers to show how they perceive the homes of the future.

Full details on Depot Basel can be found at http://depotbasel.ch

And we’ve published a few further photos from the Bring a Ding exhibition as a Facebook Gallery

Depot Basel, featuring exhibits from the "Seats" exhibition

Part of Bring a Ding at Depot Basel (sorry we forgot to record the designer's name :( )