5 New Design Exhibitions for December 2014

One of the advantages of having been running our “5 New Design Exhibitions” series for over a year is that we now possess what we can optimistically refer to as an “archive”

And looking in that “archive” we discover that for December 2013 we recommended four exhibitions in Germanophone countries and one in Holland.

And for December 2014 we’re doing the same.

It’s not deliberate; it is just the case that only museums and galleries in Germany appear to open design and architecture exhibitions in December.

If anyone knows otherwise please let us know. But for now, our tips for December 2014.

“VKhUTEMAS – A Russian Laboratory of Modernity” at the Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin, Germany

Established in 1920 the Russian State Art and Technical College, or VKhUTEMAS as it is popularly known after the acronym of its impossibly long Russian name, was conceived as an institution in which art and architecture would be used as the basis for building a new society responsive to and sensitive of the changing social, cultural and technological conditions of the age, and the corresponding new generations of mankind that would produce.

And if that sounds a bit familiar, then yes VKhUTEMAS is often referred to as the Russian Bauhaus. And the connections between the two go further than their avant garde philosophies, central focus on architecture and preaching of new approaches to education, but also include physical links: most notably Wassily Kandinsky who taught at both.

Organised in conjunction with the Shchusev State Museum of Architecture, Moscow, VKhUTEMAS – A Russian Laboratory of Modernity will present some 250 sketches, drawings, models and paintings by students and teaching staff and aims to provide an introduction to one of the more interesting and important cultural institutions of the inter-war years.

VKhUTEMAS – A Russian Laboratory of Modernity opens at the Martin-Gropius-Bau, Niederkirchnerstraße 7, 10963 Berlin on Friday December 5th and runs until Monday April 6th.

“Wege der Moderne. Josef Hoffmann, Adolf Loos und die Folgen” at the MAK Vienna, Austria

For reasons we’ve never quite understood, it is all too often forgotten that Austria, and for all Vienna, has been the centre of numerous cultural, architecture and design movements of the past century or two. Including Modernism. Although the fame and glory was to be reserved for others, without the likes of Josef Hoffmann and Adolf Loos and the work they carried out in the late 18th/early 19th century, many of the later developments would almost certainly not have been possible in the form they ultimately were. As a final Hurrah! to their 150th birthday celebrations the MAK Wien close 2014 with an exhibition that will will aim to highlight both the contribution Loos and Hoffmann made to the development of European modernism and also explore the fundamental differences in and of the philosophies and approaches which underscored their work.

Wege der Moderne. Josef Hoffmann, Adolf Loos und die Folgen opens at the MAK, Stubenring 5, 1010 Vienna on Wednesday December 17th and runs until Sunday April 19th

“Designobjekte aus Kunststoff – Die Koelsch Collection” at kunsthaus kaufbeuren, Kaufbeuren, Germany

There, we would argue, is no more controversial and emotive material in design than plastic.

For some the saviour, for others the bitterest of foes

Positions which leave no room for compromise. But lots of room for arguments.

Where there can be no arguments however is in acknowledging that plastics have been employed to create some of the most genuinely wonderful, innovative, charming and culturally important objects of recent decades.

Presenting some 300 objects from what the organisers claim is the worldwide largest private collection of plastic design objects – a claim we see no reason to challenge – Designobjekte aus Kunststoff at the kunsthaus kaufbeuren promises to present plastic in all its multifarious and multifaceted forms.

A particular highlight promises to be the presentation of some 90 plastic radios covering a period of some 80 years. A highlight less on account of the number of objects but on account of the insights they will hopefully allow into evolving tastes, design philosophies and production possibilities.

Designobjekte aus Kunststoff – Die Koelsch Collection opens at kunsthaus kaufbeuren, Spitaltor 2, 87600 Kaufbeuren on Saturday December 13th and runs until Sunday March 8th

“The Urburb: Patterns of contemporary living” at the Deutsches Architektur Zentrum DAZ, Berlin, Germany

Fresh from its presentation as the Israeli contribution to the 2014 Venice Architecture Biennale the Deutsches Architektur Zentrum, DAZ, in Berlin is presenting The Urburb – a word invented by the exhibition’s curators Ori Scialom, Roy Brand, Keren Yaela Golan to define their interpretation of a particular mix of the urban and suburban which dominates Israeli architecture and urban planning; and an installation which explores the role the Urburb has played in the history of the development of Israel. And so by extrapolation allows an alternative impression of the story of Israel and the reality that is contemporary Israel.

Featuring four “sand printers” which draw the outlines of regions, towns, estates and houses into Negev Desert sand, and then wipe the sand clean and start again, the Urburb not only mirrors the repetition of established patterns in Israeli architecture and planning, but also questions the sense of this repetition.

The Urburb: patterns of contemporary living opens at the Deutsches Architektur Zentrum DAZ, Köpenicker Straße 48/49, 10179 Berlin on Friday December 5th and runs until Sunday February 2nd

“Klaarhamer volgens Rietveld” at the Centraal Museum, Utrecht, Holland

That no artist, architect, musician, author or designer can develop in complete isolation is a widely understood, if equally readily ignored, truth.

Deep down we all like the idea of the crazed-eyed romantic working doggedly towards their single minded goal. But normally there are others who serve as inspiration, as teachers, be that formal or informal, or just fellow travellers on a journey with whom one can share a beer and discuss the next step.

Yet all too often these men and women are forgotten by history, and so it is to be welcomed that the Centraal Museum in Utrecht is presenting an exhibition devoted to the Dutch architect and furniture designer Piet Klaarhamer – one of the most important figures in the development of the young Gerrit T. Rietveld.

Following a distinguished career as a teacher and architect, in 1919 Piet Klaarhamer received his largest, most important, architectural commission from the Dutch industrialist Cornelis Bruynzeel. And while that was unquestionably cause for celebration, 1919 also saw the magazine De Stijl publish the first images of simple wooden furniture by Klaarhamer’s former student Gerrit Rietveld. An event which established Rietveld’s position, and, if inadvertently and unintentionally, forced Piet Klaarhamer into a, near, eternal shade.

Utrecht’s Centraal Museum hope to rectify that through the presentation of paintings, furniture, sketches and recreations of interior design projects in an exhibition which it is hoped will throw some fresh, enduring, light on Piet Klaarhamer and his contribution to the history of European design and architecture.

Klaarhamer volgens Rietveld opens at the Centraal Museum, Nicolaaskerkhof 10, 3512 XC Utrecht on Saturday December 20th and runs until Sunday March 22nd