"After you have settled yourself in a place as favorable as possible to the concentration of your mind upon itself, have writing materials brought to you", so begins Secrets of the Magical Surrealist Art - Written surrealist composition, part of André Breton's 1924 Surrealist Manifesto, "Put yourself in as passive, or receptive, a state of mind as you can. Forget about your genius, your talents, and the talents of everyone else. Keep reminding yourself that literature is one of the saddest
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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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In these dispatches we once doubted the prevalence of designer furniture in comics, noting and acknowledging the regular appearance of popular furniture designs in other visual media, we, off-handedly, opined, "... Designer furniture in a comic?" Elegantly proving us very, very wrong the Vitra Design Museum's exhibition Living in a Box. Design and Comics not only explores the use and depiction of designer furniture and lighting in comics, but also considers how comics have contributed to and
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"I first saw resilient tubular steel furniture designed by Professor Mies van der Rohe in September 1927 at the exhibition "Samt und Seide" in Berlin, objects which made a very deep impression on me, because I felt and saw that here, for the first time, was a meaningful way to utilise the forces inherent in tubular steel." Anton Lorenz, 27th March 19391 Because discussions on the steel tube furniture that, in many regards, characterises the inter-War period tend to focus on the designers and
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"Form should not be finite but should be amorphous, so that the experience within is loose, meandering and multiple" - Balkrishna Doshi1 With the exhibition Architecture for the People the Vitra Design Museum explore Indian architect Balkrishna Doshi's understanding of, belief in and approach to realising the amorphous, the social, the humane, in architecture. Balkrishna Doshi. Architecture for the People, Vitra Design Museum An Indian architect who has built exclusively in India,
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According to US gonzo journalist, Hunter S Thompson, "the human animal needs a Good Reason to get out of bed on a wretched morning in February." 1 May we humbly suggest....... "Die Neue Heimat (1950–1982). A Social Democratic Utopia and Its Buildings" at the Architekturmuseum der TU München, Munich, Germany An exhibition about German high-rise housing estates with the subtitle "A Social Democratic Utopia and Its Buildings" could lead one to the conclusion it was about East Germany. Wrong!
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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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Victor Papanek's contention that "There are professions more harmful than industrial design, but only a very few of them", remains one of the most pertinent considerations on the design profession, because it succinctly underscores that in what they do designers directly and indirectly impact not only the user/consumer of that which they design, but also on all those involved in the production, distribution and disposal of that which they design. And thereby, directly and indirectly, on our
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According to Germanic lore, "ein guter Septemberregen kommt nie ungelegen", a good rain in September is never inopportune. This year arguably more so than ever. Similarly a good architecture and design exhibition in September is never inopportune. And, and keeping with rain metaphors, while we can all remember what rain is, September 2018, sees a proper downpour of new architecture and design exhibitions. A downpour that is particularly opportune. Following July's drought and its meagre 4
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In his Ron Arad monograph Restless Furniture Deyan Sudjic notes that the Sticks & Stones furniture crusher Arad developed for the exhibition Nouvelles Tendances staged by the Centre de Creation Industriel Paris in 1987 was itself only saved from the crusher through the post-exhibition "intervention of a friendly Swiss furniture manufacturer."1 While all Swiss furniture manufacturers are friendly, one particularly friendly Swiss furniture manufacturer springs to mind whenever the discussion
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Nightclubs and discos are not only about entertainment and sensory overload, but also provide a society with means of expression and reflection. With the exhibition Night Fever. Designing Club Culture 1960 - Today the Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein explore five decades of club culture. Night Fever. Designing Club Culture 1960 - Today, Vitra Design Museum One of our worst ever disco experience's was in Weil am Rhein. And we weren't even there. It was a couple of years ago, we were in
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With the exhibition Hans J. Wegner: Designing Danish Modern the Vitra Design Museum Schaudepot explores the oeuvre of one of the Grand Doyens, and arguably one of the most widely misconstrued protagonists, of 20th century Danish design. Hans J. Wegner: Designing Danish Modern, Vitra Design Museum Schaudepot "If only you could design just one good chair in your life . . . But you simply cannot”1 opined Hans J. Wegner in 1952: and as if to prove his point designed over 500. And while not all
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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
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With their 1997 exhibition The Work of Charles and Ray Eames the Vitra Design Museum staged one of the first major Charles and Ray Eames retrospectives Twenty years later they return to two of the 20th century's most important creatives with An Eames Celebration: less of Charles and Ray, and more of the diversity, depth and continuing relevance of their work. Charles & Ray Eames. The Power of Design, Vitra Design Museum That it is 20 years since the Vitra Design Museum last dedicated an
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The September architecture and design exhibition recommendations are arguably the cruellest to write: the fact that the majority of the exhibitions end in the depths of the European winter meaning that as we sit here hoping that summer keeps going just a little, little, longer.... we're forced to think about winter jackets and gloves. And so before things get that far, best get out there and visit an exhibition!! Our five recommendations for September 2017 feature new exhibitions in Weil am
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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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"Have you ever met a robot?" asks the Vitra Design Museum. The answer is yes. The answers to the other 13 questions posed by the exhibition Hello, Robot. Design between Human and Machine are not necessarily so easily answered: but are important for defining our relationship with digital technology. Vitra Design Museum presents Hello, Robot. Design between Human and Machine Vitra Design Museum opens one of its major exhibitions this week called ''Hello, Robot. Design between Human and
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Our picks from the new architecture and design exhibitions opening in February 2017, featuring showcases in Weil am Rhein, Falkenberg, 's-Hertogenbosch, Berlin and Groningen. 5 New Design Exhibitions for February 2017 "Good morrow, Benedick. Why, what's the matter, That you have such a February face, So full of frost, of storm and cloudiness?", enquires Don Pedro of Benedick in Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing. Shakespeare gives the impression that Benedick's mood is somehow related to
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In 2016 the Breton capital Rennes hosted four exhibitions of, by and from Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec; one of them Rêveries Urbaines - Urban Dreams - is now on show at the Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec - Rêveries Urbaines, Vitra Design Museum In the European design calendar late September/early October is Vienna Design Week and the opening of the winter/spring temporary exhibition in the Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein. And thus our annual outing on the
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With the opening of the Vitra Schaudepot the Vitra Campus has not only grown by a further building, but the Vitra Design Museum has realised a long held dream, that of an exhibition space in which to present their collection in its full extent; or at least in a much fuller extent than has currently been possible. Vitra Schaudepot by Herzog & de Meuron The Vitra Design Museum collection traces its origins back to 1981 when the then Vitra CEO Rolf Fehlbaum began buying historic examples of
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Clearly vexed by a critical review in Architectural Forum of his friend Alexander Girard's Santa Fe house, Charles Eames wrote a short letter on December 26th 1956 to the magazine's editor Walter McQuade: "Alexander Girard is interested in the quality of everything and does not hesitate to act on this interest, personally and immediately. Such action could not possibly result in a cliche; and not being cliche demands an explanation. The answer perhaps is in Girard's total involvement in
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"All in the wild March morning I heard the angels call, It was when the moon was setting, and the dark was over all; The trees began to whisper, and the wind began to roll, And in the wild March morning I heard them call: "Stop romanticising and visit a design exhibition!!!!" (The May Queen by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. With apologies) Were Alfred, Lord Tennyson around in March 2016, here’s five new design exhibitions we could recommend..... Alexander Girard. A Designer's Universe at the Vitra
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The end of design's summer hibernation is traditionally marked by the opening of the Vitra Design Museum's winter exhibition, which for 2015/16 is the fulminate The Bauhaus #itsalldesign Elsewhere September 2015 saw us discuss photographing Le Corbusier with Margret Hoppe, the challenges as young designer in Berlin with Gunnar Søren Petersen, how design can be used for social change with Pepe Heykoop ...... and become completely obsessed with a steel horse from Prague. Vitra Design Museum:
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On Leipzig's Augustusplatz one can currently enjoy the wonders of the Leipzig Märchenland, the Leipzig Fairytale World. Alternatively, some 500m east of Augustusplatz in the Art Déco splendour of the Grassi Museum for Applied Arts one can enjoy the wonders of the equally narrative, if thankfully less preachy and moralising, Konstantin Grcic Märchenland. Or Konstantin Grcic - Panorama, to give its formal name. The Work Space, as seen at Konstantin Grcic – Panorama, Grassi Museum for Applied
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