With the 2021 Pritzker Architecture Prize being awarded to Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal international attention has become focused on architectural strategies geared towards maintaining existing buildings in the face of evolving economic, social, demographic, et al, realities rather than demolishing and erecting new ones by way of a response; and also of the value, the economic, the social, the cultural and the environmental value, of reusing, remodelling and reimagining that which
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"Conservative Hamburg only permits white paint for its ceilings, doors and windows, and, at most, economical gilding", remonstrated once the decorative painter Peter Gustaf Dorén.1 And set about rectifying that, set about bringing more colour to Hamburg...... Peter Gustaf Dorén. Interior Design in Hamburg circa 1900 Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg Born on September 21st 1857 in Sireköpinge, southern Sweden, as Peter Gustaf Andersson, the "Dorén", we learn in the exhibition, being
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Following the declaration of the French Republic in 1792 a new calendar was introduced in the realms of France: the Revolution had washed away France past and the Republic marked the start of a new reality for mankind, one of universal Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité, and therefore demanded a resetting of the collective clock, a new measuring of time, and thus out went the Gregorian calendar and its historic associations with church and state, and in came le calendrier républicain, the French
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In context of the exhibition Luigi Colani and Art Nouveau, the Bröhan-Museum Berlin's staircase is emblazoned with a long quote from Colani, a long and typically outspoken quote, in which Luigi Colani denigrates the Hochschule für Gestaltung Ulm, that design school which has such a prominent and pre-eminent position in popular understandings of design in post-War West Germany; and who for Luigi Colani were "defrauders of the German creative spirituality of the twenties and thirties! Imbecilic
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For popularly understood reasons not only did the 2021 edition of the IMM Cologne furniture trade fair not take place as planned in mid-January, neither did the 2021 edition of Cologne's Passagen Interior Design Week..... ....which doesn't mean that fresh contemporary design wasn't to be found in Cologne in mid-January. In an offline realised and online presented exhibition the assemblage Generation Köln introduced the results of their collaborations with the CIAV Meisenthal glassworks; a
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Cleaning is a chore. If only we could get through life without the necessity of dusting, sweeping, washing, polishing et al....... With the project Cleaning against the Dictatorship of Efficiency Birgit Severin and Guillaume Neu-Rinaudo a.k.a. studio b severin explore cleaning, its rituals, contexts, symbolism, functions, psychology, and in doing so enable differentiated perspectives on both that ubiquitous chore and the necessity in the necessity of dusting, sweeping, washing, polishing et
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Alongside the Chinese and Korean New Year celebrations one of the most popular observances in any given February is, arguably, the Feast Day of Saint Valentine on February 14th; St Valentine famously being the patron saint of greetings card manufacturers, lovers, but less famously, if just as importantly, also offering protection from the plague. Now while the misanthropes amongst you will query whether love and plague aren't synonyms, and a pox upon you for that; this February 14th we could
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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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