5 New Design Exhibitions for February 2015

Much as the hardest move in yoga is unrolling your yoga mat, so to is the most challenging facet about most design and architecture exhibitions actually getting round to visiting them.

Especially when it involves going out into February’s cold air.

The following five however seem well worth the effort.

If unrolling your yoga mat is worth the effort is of course another question. And not one we have any intention of ever trying to find an answer to………………..

Architecture of Independence. African Modernism at the Vitra Design Museum Gallery, Weil am Rhein, Germany

In March the Vitra Design Museum will open their new exhibition “Making Africa. A Continent of Contemporary Design”; by way of a foretaste the Vitra Design Museum Gallery is presenting an exploration of the architecture that developed post-independence in nations such as Zambia, Kenya, Ghana, Ivory Coast or Senegal. Based on a research project undertaken by Basel based architect Manuel Herz the exhibition will present some 50 buildings constructed in the 1950s, 60s and 70s and which according to the curators represent the sense of freedom and spirit of hope which existed immediately following independence: a freedom and spirit which were often accompanied by an economic stability that allowed for the development of fittingly adventurous buildings.

Architecture of Independence. African Modernism opens at the Vitra Design Museum Gallery, Charles-Eames-Str. 2, 79576 Weil am Rhein on Friday February 20th and runs until Sunday May 31st

Accra, Ghana - Independence Square, 1961. (Photo © Manuel Herz, Courtesy of Vitra Design Museum)

Architecture in the Museum. A Fortieth Anniversary at The National Museum – Architecture, Oslo, Norway

Since its establishment in 1975 the Norwegian national architecture museum has not only helped promote an understanding of the role, history and cultural importance of architecture in Norway but has also continually documented the development of Norwegian architecture and collected relevant material. To mark its fortieth anniversary the museum is presenting an exhibition in which they aim not only to explain in more detail how they work, where their focus is and what an institution such as a national architecture museum can offer wider society, but which also aims to explain and explore the development of architecture in Norway over the past four decades.

Architecture in the Museum. A Fortieth Anniversary opens at The National Museum – Architecture, Bankplassen 3, Oslo on Friday February 6th and runs until Sunday April 26th

Architecture in the Museum. A Fortieth Anniversary at The National Museum – Architecture, Oslo

Good Design Awards 2014 Exhibition at the European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies, Athens, Greece

On January 16th 1950 the first Good Design Award exhibition opened at the Merchandise Mart in Chicago. Conceived by the MoMA New York in co-operation with the Merchandise Mart – a sort of one-stop shopping centre for architects and interior designers – the Good Design Award was the first professionally marketed design award and an event which sought to recognise design which was “… intended for present-day life, in regard to usefulness, to production methods and materials and to the progressive taste of the day.” Initially organised thrice a year – summer/autumn and winter/spring showcases in Chicago followed up by a Christmas “Best of” in New York, the current Good Design Award is an annual award organised by the Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design and in addition to an awards exhibition in Chicago the winning designs are also presented at the Chicago Athenaeum’s outpost in Athens.

The 2014 winners include projects such as the Analog Table by Jaime Hayon for Fritz Hansen, the NOMOS Metro watch by Berlinerblau for NOMOS Glashütte and Konstantin Grcic‘s Rival Task Chair for Artek

As a general rule we’re not keen on design awards, what however makes the Good Design Award for us so interesting is on the one hand its scale and number of categories, and on the other the fact that many of the Good Design winners are anything but.
Most are. But some aren’t; or at least aren’t according to our definition. The exhibition therefore offers an excellent opportunity to form your own opinions as to what “good design” actually is. Or indeed what “design” actually means, especially in context of the original aims of the Award.

The Good Design Awards 2014 Exhibition opens at the European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies, 74 Mitropoleos, 10563 Athens on Friday February 6th and runs until Monday April 6th

NOMOS Metro watch by Berlinerblau for NOMOS Glashütte. A worthy winner of a Good Design Award 2014

Fresh Talent at the National Craft Gallery, Kilkenny, Ireland

As already noted, the Design & Crafts Council of Ireland has designated 2015 the year of Irish Design. Under the banner “Irish Design 2015” a wide range of events are being organised both in in Ireland and overseas; including the exhibition Fresh Talent being staged at the Irish National Craft Gallery. Focussing on projects realised since 2011, largely student projects or those by recent graduates, Fresh Talent promises projects from across a range of creative disciplines including product design, set design and architecture and as such aims to provide an overview of the current state of creative crafts in Ireland as well as introducing some of the younger, up and coming, protagonists.

Fresh Talent opens at the National Craft Gallery, Castle Yard, Kilkenny on Friday February 6th and runs until Wednesday March 18th

A "Shelf Portrait" by Darragh Casey (Photo Moira O Brien, Courtesy National Craft Gallery)

Pop Art Design at the Espoo Museum of Modern Art, Espoo, Finland

Although for many Pop Art was, and indeed is, just about bright colours and misappropriating everyday objects to provoke the established art world; for the original protagonists it was more about how one viewed the modern world and how one reacted, or should react, to the evolving and changing nature of society. It should therefore come as no surprise that 1950s/60s design and Pop Art were very closely linked. Premièred at the Vitra Design Museum in October 2012, Pop Art Design seeks to explore the nature of the dialogue that existed between Pop Art and design in the 1950s and 1960s, explain the similarities between the genres and presents the proposition that art and design should be considered as equal partners.

In addition to objects from the original Vitra Design Museum exhibition the Espoo Museum of Modern Art are also promising Pop Art and contemporary design from Finland, thus bringing a regional accent to a global phenomenon.

Pop Art Design opens at EMMA – Espoo Museum of Modern Art, The WeeGee Exhibition Centre, Ahertajantie 5, Tapiola, 02070 Espoo on Wednesday February 18th and runs until Sunday May 10th

Pop Art Design, as seen at the Vitra Design Museum