The only certainty as 2020 flows into 2021 is the ongoing uncertainty. An uncertainty that is increasingly being understood as an ongoing certainty and thereby turning ever more "plans" into "options". And also causing a great many global architecture and design museums to skip over the first quarter of 2021 as if weren't there, and to move their new exhibition openings to April and beyond. A state of affairs which on the one hand means there are currently fewer lonelier locations than any
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To paraphrase the Propellerheads, this is just a little bit of a blog post repeating... For much as with our November 2020 exhibition recommendations, so some of our December 2020 exhibition recommendations won't be opening. Or at least not in December 2020. But then as now are in still in our list. On the one hand because they will open, and is an important part of any pleasure not the expectation and anticipation? And on the other hand, because that which makes an exhibition recommendable
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Outwith his native Denmark, the country home to the most architectural works by Arne Jacobsen is Germany. Yet the vast majority of them remain popularly unknown. As does Arne Jacobsen's partner on his German projects: Otto Weitling With the showcase Gesamtkunstwerke – Architecture by Arne Jacobsen and Otto Weitling in Germany, the Felleshus Berlin not only set the record straight but allow for some fresh reflections on both Arne Jacobsen and our relationships to and with architecture and our
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Back in May we were faced with the decision as to whether to remain with the online exhibition recommendations we'd been carrying throughout the spring, or, given that ever more museums were re-opening, move back offline for our June recommendations. And decided to move back offline, not least because "viewing an exhibition in a museum is the more satisfying experience, the more rewarding experience, the more enduring experience. And an important experience." Ahead of our November
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"How far can we entrust the machine to design?" asked the American architect Louis I. Kahn in context of the 1968 conference Computer Graphics in Architecture and Design. In his opinion, not much. "The machine can communicate measure, but the machine cannot create, cannot judge, cannot design. This belongs to the mind".1 And today? With the exhibition The Architecture Machine. The Role of Computers in Architecture, the Architekturmuseum der TU München explore the (hi)story of the computer
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"I don't know what design is", opined once the Italian designer Enzo Mari. Not because he hadn't considered the question. But because he had. A lot. With the exhibition Enzo Mari curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist with Francesca Giacomelli the Triennale Milano present an opportunity to approach an understanding of that which in the course of those considerations, and his 60+ year career, Enzo Mari has variously understood both design to be, and what it could, should, must, be........ Enzo Mari
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In 1977 the German designer Luigi Colani demanded a "renaissance of Art Nouveau"1 What he meant, why he meant it, and if it is something we should all fear, can be explored and considered in the exhibition Luigi Colani and Art Nouveau at the Bröhan-Museum, Berlin....... Luigi Colani and Art Nouveau at the Bröhan-Museum, Berlin Born in Berlin on August 2nd 19282 Lutz Colani3 studied sculpture at Berlin's Hochschule für bildende Künste between 1946 and 1948, before moving to Paris where he
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"Last night the waiter put the celery on with the cheese, and I knew that summer was indeed dead", opined once A.A. Milne, continuing that, while there may be other indications of autumn's arrival, "it is only with the first celery that summer is over." And the first celery appears, or at least appeared in early 20th century England, in October. Not that one should fear the celery, for in its crispness, freshness, tenderness, sweetness celery, so A.A. Milne, reminds us that winter isn't only
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On October 31st 1517 Martin Luther published his 95 Theses, his Disputation on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences, his criticism of the contemporary Catholic church. 95 theses which fired a debate and discourse that, ultimately, led to the splitting of the, until then, all-powerful Catholic church, an event which was to have consequences far, far, beyond religious practice and power, and which was arguably one of the single most important moments in the development of European society.
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"Hvis jeg får et nyt liv, vil jeg være gartner", opined once the Danish architect and designer Arne Jacobsen. "If I have another life, I want to be a gardener" Not that, as Arne Jacobsen – Designing Denmark at Trapholt, Kolding, would tend to imply, he made an incorrect career choice..... Arne Jacobsen - Designing Denmark, Trapholt, Kolding Arne Emile Jacobsen was born in Copenhagen on February 11th 1902 into a, by all accounts, comfortable middle class family; his mother a trained bank
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Tuesday September 22nd marks the 2020 Southward Equinox, and thus the start of autumn in the northern hemisphere, and of spring in the southern hemisphere. Two seasons known throughout history for the vagaries, capriciousness, of their weather. And thus two seasons perfectly suited to a longer architecture and design, or art, museum visit. Our recommendations for four new showcases opening in September (autumn) 2020 can be found in Berlin, Kolding, Düsseldorf and Berlin (again); our
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"It is a very interesting thing indeed to ask myself certain questions", reflected H.G. Wells in 1937, "How did I come to know what I know about the world and myself? What ought I to know? What would I like to know that I don't know? If I want to know about this or that, where can I get the clearest, best and latest information? And where did these other people about me get their ideas about things? Which are sometimes so different from mine. Why do we differ so widely?"1 Questions whose
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"What August dosen't do, September puts right"1 declared Johann Wolfgang Goethe. And loathed as we are to contradict Goethe. He’s wrong. August may be a time when one can allow oneself a little more freedom than the rest of the year; however, that which we call life is the actions, experiences, leanings, emotions of each month consecutively and sequentially building on, informing and evolving one-another, a month of inactivity is a month of moments missed, and hoping that September can in
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The German designer and graphic artist Otl Aicher once opined, "Hans Gugelot wasn't a theoretician. But not a practitioner either. What is one if neither a theorist nor a practitioner?"1 What, indeed.....? With the exhibition Hans Gugelot. The Architecture of Design the HfG-Archiv Ulm allows one to approach an answer..... Hans Gugelot. The Architecture of Design, HfG-Archiv Ulm Johan (Hans) Gugelot was born in Makassar, Indonesia, on April 1st 1920, as the second son to Dutch couple
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Christa Petroff-Bohne arrived a trifling couple of minutes late for the opening of Beauty of Form. And was most apologetic, apologised for keeping us all waiting. Whereby, we couldn't help thinking, it is much more us, all, the international community, who should be apologising for keeping Christa Petroff-Bohne waiting for such a comprehensive and rounded recognition of her work and career.........1 Form studies by students of Christa Petroff-Bohne's Basics of Visual Design, as seen at
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July is traditionally a slow month for new architecture and design exhibition openings. July 2020 less so. Not because of any fundamental changes in understandings amongst architecture and design museums of when is a good time to open an exhibition; but because owing to Corona many shows scheduled to open in the spring had to be postponed, not least until the museums were allowed to open. And throughout July 2020 ever more museums are planned and planning to open; meaning ever more
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Given the very close connections between Le Corbusier and France, one could be forgiven for, occasionally, forgetting that he was born in Switzerland. With the exhibition Le Corbusier and Zürich the Museum für Gestaltung allow not only an insight into the Le Corbusier biography as charted by Switzerland's largest city, but also of his not always easy relationship with the country of his birth. Pavillon Le Corbusier, Zürich The most visible, tangible, relationship between Le Corbusier and
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"It's not possible to define a style in my work"1, opined once the Italian architect and designer Gae Aulenti. With the exhibition Gae Aulenti: A Creative Universe, the Vitra Design Museum Schaudepot don't contradict that opinion, but do provide for a framework for considerations on its validity...... Gae Aulenti: A Creative Universe, Vitra Design Museum Schaudepot Born in Palazzolo dello Stella (Udine) on December 4th 1927 Gaetana "Gae" Aulenti studied architecture at the Politecnico
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In a letter in 2008 to the editors of the Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians concerning remarks in an article on the staged illumination of Mies van der Rohe's skeletal frame constructions, the architecture historian Kathleen James-Chakraborty refers to the "linking of Heinrich Tessenow's Festspielhaus of 1910-12 in Hellerau with the installation for the glass industry that Mies designed (in collaboration with Lilly Reich, whom Petty does not mention) for the Stuttgart Werkbund
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Interesting, important and not irrelevant as hygiene is at the moment, the new exhibition at the Deutsches Hygiene-Museum Dresden doesn't concern itself with pandemics, but with another subject of contemporary global interest, importance and relevance: food, food supply, food security. And a theme not entirely unrelated to, certainly not unaffected by, our current reality...... Future Food. What will we eat tomorrow?, Deutsches Hygiene-Museum, Dresden Established in 1912 the Deutsches
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We thought long and hard as to if we should continue our online exhibition recommendations series, or go back to offline exhibitions...... and decided for a return to offline. We fully appreciate that in a lot of countries museums are still closed, as indeed are the international borders that you would normally and naturally criss-cross for a short city break to visit those that are open; however, many museums are open, many more are planned/planning to open in the course of June, and
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With the exhibition Citizen Office the Vitra Design Museum staged not only their first conceptual, research based, exhibition, but also one of the first museal reflections on "the world of the office". Reflections which not only pointed towards new directions and understandings then, but which offer insights and lessons for today....... Citizen Office. As visualised by James Irvine The ubiquity of office work in our contemporary society belies the relative youth of "the office" as a
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While we'd all much rather physically visit architecture and design museums, our current enforced virtual patronage does allow us all an excellent opportunity to begin to understand architecture and design museums as more than just an exhibition space with shop and café, and to begin to learn to interact with them, and for all their collections, in new, proactive, manners. To understand architecture and design museums as tools as much as institutions. And while a virtual visit can never
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The museums may be closed, travel restricted and leaving your home, when possible, unadvised..... but that's no reason to restrict your cultural uptake, far less neglect the development of your architecture and design understandings. Or put another way, if you can't get to the museum..... let the museum come to you. Five online architecture and design exhibitions and museum collections to explore from your sofa, bed, garden, balcony, wherever..... Vitra Design Museum - Collection Online In
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