In the northern Hemisphere May is a month of ritual; rituals primarily associated with the awakening of nature, the approaching of summer with the associated hope of a successful and bountiful harvest. And rituals which include, amongst many others, maypoles in various contexts, bonfires for various reasons and a myriad dances, including the traditional English children's dance/game Nuts in May, with its repetition of the line "Here we come gathering nuts in May"... which obviously raises the
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"My work was... How would I put it?", asks Yrjö Kukkapuro. "Constant contemplation" he answers.1 With the exhibition Yrjö Kukkapuro – Magic Room Espoo Museum of Modern Art, EMMA, invite us all to contemplate on Yrjö Kukkapuro's contemplations....... Yrjö Kukkapuro - Magic Room, Espoo Museum of Modern Art, EMMA Born in Vyborg, then Finland, now Russia, on April 6th 1933 Yrjö Kukkapuro enrolled in 1955 at the Institute of Industrial Art, Helsinki, a school, then, housed in the city's
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"How did I end up going to technical school?" asked once the Finnish architect Wivi Lönn, rhetorically, "I had building in my blood, and it pulled me in."1 With the exhibition Long Live Wivi Lönn! the Museum of Finnish Architecture, Helsinki, help elucidate not only how that innate urge expressed itself, but also that for all the apparent ease contained in Lönn's account of an innate urge being followed, for a Wivi Lönn, and for the great many Wivi Lönn's over the past 200 years, it wasn't
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Autumn is once more upon the Northern Hemisphere, that season of not only "mists and mellow fruitfulness", but as a John Keats also reminds us the season of harvest, be that vine fruits, apples, gourds or hazelnuts. Or the architecture and design exhibitions Keats didn't mention. If, to be fair to him, they would have been largely unknown in 1819. Unlike today; a today where after a long summer of waiting patiently, of observing from afar, and hoping, autumn traditionally presents a bountiful
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As here in the northern hemisphere winter cedes to spring, not only is nature once again reawakening from its long repose but so too is the international museum community; and that, one senses, with more vigour than in the most recent springs where the Covid pandemic induced upsetting of the established order of the museal ecosystem, through both enforced closures and fundamental disruptions of essential exhibition development processes, dimmed somewhat the promise of the annual spring blush.
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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 1936 Aino Aalto opined that "homes can be given interior design in other ways than before - not by buying expensive complete suites of furniture, but by concentrating on low-cost furnishings which can be used - with the aid of flowers, carpets, drapery and colours - to create hitherto more practical and more comfortable homes."1 A break not only with the understandings, the ways, of generations long past in terms of what constitutes appropriate furniture; but also a break with the ways of
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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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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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Whereas in the natural world spring ushers in new life but once a year, in the design museum world re-awakenings are biannual: a spring spring as curators awake from their winter hibernation and an autumn spring as they awake from their summer dormancy. Both bringing forth not only the promise of growth, energy, of a new esprit, of new experiences, new sensations, but confirming the eternal nature of existence, that we are but a moment on an endless spiralling continuum....... Our five new
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If Jean-Claude Juncker gets his way October 2018 could see the clocks of Europe turned back an hour for the final time. And thereby bringing to an end the long tradition of local newspapers publishing bi-annual articles documenting the curious tales and legends of town clocks, stories from the Schwarzwald on the largest and smallest cuckoo clocks, and photographs of horologists surrounded by the 350+ clocks and watches they need to reset. For our part, we'll miss them. It will also mean you
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For George Orwell nothing heralded spring quite like the re-appearance of toads, emerging from their subterranean hibernation and setting off, once again, on life's great cycle. Our toads are the flurry of new design and architecture exhibitions which open globally every March, as the international museum and gallery community awake from their winter slumber. Our highlights for March 2017, featuring new exhibitions in Bielefeld, Helsinki, Weil am Rhein, Utrecht and Paris "Partners in
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Our pick of the new architecture and design exhibitions opening in January 2017, with showcases in Cologne, New York, Rotterdam, Atlanta and Helsinki. 5 New Design Exhibitions for January 2017 Offering as it does the perfect opportunity for reflection on what has been, and the chance to quietly place hope in what may yet come, January is in many respects the perfect month for visiting an architecture or design exhibition: the very best presenting as they do just such a mix, and thus
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O hushed October morning mild, Thy leaves have ripened to the fall; Tomorrow’s wind, if it be wild* You'd be well advised to take yourself off to one of the following new architecture and design exhibitions....... (With apologies to Robert Frost) * Robert Frost - October (1913) "How Should We Live? Propositions for the Modern Interior" at the Museum of Modern Art, MoMA, New York, USA Whereas lifestyle magazines and lifestyle blogs are very keen to tell us how we should live, architects
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If the etymologists are to be believed "April" has its origins in the Latin verb "aperire". To uncover, to open. Our ancient forefathers and mothers were unquestionably referring to nature's habit of "opening" at this time of year; our thoughts however turn more to the derivation "aperol", and that most pleasing of summertime refreshments, and one who's season opens in Milan every April. It is thus no surprise that our five new design exhibition aperitis for April 2016 take us to Milan ..... in
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As old Mother Goose, allegedly, once claimed: Thirty days hath September, and the following five enticing new design and architecture exhibitions which are probably well worth checking out if you get the chance....... "Piet Mondrian. The Line" at the Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin, Germany Just as those architects who were to lead the move to modernism in the first decades of the 20th century generally began working in more classic styles before being seduced by the reduced charm of modernism,
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"Father of Eero....." So or similar is in many circles the accepted form for referring to the Finnish architect and urban planner Eliel Saarinen. A highly unsatisfactory term of reference and one which in many respects denies and defames how much more there is and was to the man and his talents. Eliel Saarinen (1873-1950) Gottlieb Eliel Saarinen was born on August 20th 1873 in the remote eastern Finnish town of Rantasalmi where his father served as a Lutheran pastor. In 1875 Eliel's father
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Nothing scares us quite like January. It wouldn't be so bad if convention didn't insist on the additive progression of the year. If the number could just remain the same we'd be fine with January. But no. Come the first of January comes further confirmation of our inevitable mortality. Thanks January! To comfort us, five particularly promising sounding new design and architecture exhibitions opening in January 2015...... "SYSTEM DESIGN. Über 100 Jahre Chaos im Alltag" at the Museum für
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If etymologists are to be believed the name "June" is derived from the Latin word iuniores - younger, so junior - a word that has also given us Juniperus. And Juniperus communis gives us the juniper berries that give gin its magic. And what is an exhibition opening without gin? And so what better month to visit an exhibition opening than June? Our five picks from the new June 2014 offerings features Swiss garden design, Spanish food design, Italian abstract design, Finnish modernist design
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Mayday! Mayday! Don't panic. It's just a public holiday. You'll survive. Barbecue something...... And afterwards, when everyone else is back at work and things have calmed down a little, why not enjoy one or more of the following design and architecture exhibitions opening around Europe this coming May. "Fritz Haller. Architekt und Forscher" at the S AM Schweizerisches Architekturmuseum, Basel, Switzerland Everyone knows Fritz Haller. He designed one of the few truly iconic and genuinely
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