In the wonderful month of May, As all the buds bloomed, My heart became, With Love consumed In the wonderful month of May, As all the birds did sing, I confessed to her My desire and yearning. Heinrich Heine, Im wunderschönen Monat Mai, 1827 And then??? Heinrich, don't leave us hanging! It all started out so positive! It's an awkward month May, the vitality of blooming buds and oratorio of singing birds luring us into hopeful fantasies, utopian visions of what lies ahead: but what will
read more
Arguably because Passover/Easter is early this year, every, but every, museum is opening a major exhibition in the course of March 2018, in preparation for the unofficial start of the tourist season in April. A situation which leaves us with the daunting possibility of creating 5 such Top 5 lists. And still having some exhibitions left over. Faced with a similar situation back in November 2017 we referred to the abundance of options which lay before us as being akin to "gardens mottled with
read more
On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me, a ticket for a design exhibition. On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me, two tickets for two design exhibitions, and a ticket for a design exhibition. On the third day of Christmas my true love gave to me...... You get the idea. Our five goohoold rings for December 2017 are new architecture and design exhibitions in Winterthur, Barcelona, New York, Munich and Moscow. "Cupboard Love" at the Gewerbemuseum Winterthur,
read more
Like gardens mottled with the vibrant leaves of autumn, so too is November 2017 bestrewn with a multicoloured carpet of new design and architecture exhibitions. We could have published three such lists, seriously considered it .... have however instead taken the opportunity to bring our monthly recommendations average up to where it should be. Five. Back in August we only had four new recommendations, and so to compensate summer's shortfall, here we present six, technically seven. Although it
read more
“What are you going to do this summer, Amory?”, Tom D’Invilliers asks of Amory Blaine in F Scott Fitzgerald's This Side of Paradise. “Don’t ask me", comes the somewhat languid reply, "same old things, I suppose. A month or two in Lake Geneva — I’m counting on you to be there in July, you know — then there'll be Minneapolis, and that means hundreds of summer hops, parlor-snaking, getting bored....." Sorry Amory, but you'll have to survive the magnificence of Lake Geneva on your own, would have
read more
In northern hemispheres June marks the start of both astronomical and meteorological summer. In southern hemispheres June marks the start of both astronomical and meteorological winter. The one rejoices, the other laments .... and we don't even notice, far too busy as we are perusing architecture and design exhibitions. Our five recommendations for June 2017 features new shows in Den Haag, Frankfurt, New York, Leipzig and Brussels. "Architecture and Interiors. The desire for Style" at the
read more
While it’s hard to feel anything even vaguely resembling joy in a month which sees the UK start its senseless and cowardly, withdrawal from the European Union … life goes on!! Our five top distractions for April 2017 features new design and architecture exhibitions in Berlin, New York, Paris, Dessau and Milan. "Otto Bartning (1883–1959). Architect of Social Modernism" at the Akademie der Künste, Berlin, Germany Born in Karlsruhe in 1883 the architect and theoretician Otto Bartning was, and
read more
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
read more
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
read more
According to Axl Rose, "...it's hard to hold a candle, in the cold November rain." The question is surely, why you would want to? It sounds like a thoroughly foolish thing to do. The clocks have changed, it's dark, cold, we're all a little down, but honestly Axl, standing outside with candles ain't going to make things better. Visiting one of the following five new architecture and design exhibitions however might just.... Fear and Love – Reactions to a complex world at the Design Museum,
read more
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
read more
Slowly but surely September is becoming Europe's summer. Whereas July and August increasingly fail to produce anything even vaguely "summery", we can always rely on September to deliver long balmy afternoons, and even longer, balmier, nights. Often juxtaposed with crisp, misty mornings under a fresh blue sky. It's almost as if September knows that once it is gone, autumn will grasp us by the shoulders and drag us, selfishly, into winter. As if September knows it is our last refuge. "Get out
read more
"Photography is the medium par excellence of our time. As a visual means of communication, it has no equal."1 So wrote the American photographer Berenice Abbott in 1941. How she set about proving such can be explored in the exhibition Berenice Abbott – Photographs at the Martin-Gropius-Bau Berlin Berenice Abbott - Photographs at the Martin-Gropius-Bau Berlin Born in Springfield, Ohio in 1898 Berenice Abbott initially, and only very briefly, studied journalism at Ohio State University before
read more
Whereas April showers tend to make you wet, grumpy and late, May showers are much more agreeable - or more precisely, the Eta Aquarids meteor showers are much more agreeable: a celestial showcase which reach their peak in early May and which, and in a wonderful example of the democracy of nature, are visible from anywhere on the planet. For all who prefer to do their star gazing in the comfort of a museum or gallery, and without having to scan the evening sky for Aquarius, here our
read more
We're fairly certain most museum curators aren't inherently nocturnal, it is however noticeable that the longer the nights become, the more activity one registers in museums globally. And so with autumn slowly giving way to winter it should perhaps come as little surprise that October 2015 offers such a richness of new design and architecture exhibitions...... Art Nouveau. The Great Utopia at the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg, Germany An important role in the (hi)story of contemporary
read more
"Who's the more foolish, the fool or the fool who follows him?" asks Obi-Wan Kenobi, more or less rhetorically, in Star Wars. Chewbacca understood. And the Wookie warrior also understood that foolish as the fool who follows the fool is, he is less foolish than the April fool who misses the following five new design and architecture exhibitions opening in the coming weeks.............. "Somewhat Different. Contemporary Design and the Power of Convention" at the Museum of Decorative Arts and
read more
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
read more
"The belief that New York needs a Museum of Modern Art scarcely requires apology. All over the world the rising tide of interest in the modern movement has found expression not only in private collections but also in the formation of great public galleries for the specific purpose of exhibiting permanent as well as temporary collections of modern art. That New York has no such gallery is an extraordinary anachronism. The municipal museums of Stockholm, Weimar, Düsseldorf, Essen, Mannheim,
read more
It's now been twelve months since we decided to start recommending upcoming architecture and design exhibitions based on nothing more substantial and reliable than a press release or a PR agency text. A year in which we have recommended 60 exhibitions which sounded good, sounded worth visiting, sounded entertaining. Most of those that we subsequently visited were. A fact that has encouraged us to continue. And so to celebrate "5 New Design Exhibitions" first birthday, 5 New Design Exhibitions
read more
Following the assimilation of the Cooper Union Design Museum in New York into the Smithsonian Institution as the Copper-Hewitt Museum, founding director Lisa Taylor wanted an opening exhibition which reflected and celebrated not only the museum's new status but also its new direction and which visually translated the "philosophy of the Smithsonian Institution's new National Museum of Design"1 To this end in 1974 selected designers and architects, including Richard Saul Wurman, Charles and Ray
read more
Tradition being the predictable beast that it is, July and August tend to be quiet months in the design universe – most everyone taking themselves off to their Gîtes, Dachas, Ferienwohnungen, Vakantiehuis and lakeside bungalows for a few weeks of quiet reflection ahead of the autumn trade fair and design week season. Most. But not all. A few hardy souls remain, stocking the furnaces of creative culture with architecture and design based exhibitions intended to inspire, excite and entertain.
read more
Since Saturday the Museum of Modern Art (MoMa) in New York has been showing their new exhibition Ron Arad: No Discipline. Until October 19th visitors have the opportunity to view a varied selection of Arad's work. Or in the organisers words: "...celebrate the designer’s interdisciplinary and “no-disciplinary” spirit. Physical concepts are traced through works in different materials and scales, and objects are grouped in families based on a shared form, material, technique, or structural
read more
The NYC Post Police - tailed our every move and word Your (smow)blog team didn't become the internationally feared and monitored crew we are simply because we travel the world fearlessly attending opening night parties. Oh no! We achieved our notoriety on account of our excellent network of contacts among designers, producers, critics and delivery drivers. Nothing but nothing passes us by. As observant readers may have noticed, during our visit to the ICFF we did spend quite a lot of time
read more
Before we start slowing down and head outdoors to enjoy the summer we want to take the opportunity over the next couple of weeks to look back on the smow design spring; namely our trips to Milan, New York, Brühl, Basel and Berlin ... as well as to start looking forward to the forthcoming smow design autumn. And no we won't just be re-visiting old ground, we have saved a few treats from USM Haller, Vitra, ICFF, DMY Berlin and Salone for those long summer evenings on the balcony with a good
read more
