5 New Design Exhibitions for April 2016

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 addition to Düsseldorf, Helsinki, Dresden and Amsterdam.

“Jean Tinguely. Super Meta Maxi” at Museum Kunstpalast Düsseldorf, Germany

Born in Fribourg, Switzerland, in 1925 the artist Jean Tinguely is unquestionably best known for his innumerate kinetic sculptures; works some denounce as being unsightly piles of discarded metal. And which in many cases are. A fact perhaps best demonstrated by one of Jean Tinguely’s most famous works, his 1960 “Homage to New York” built in the sculpture garden of the MoMA New York from, amongst other components salvaged from New York city dumps, “80 bicycle wheels, parts of old motors, a piano, metal drums, an addressograph machine, a child’s go-cart and enameled bathtub.”^* And all in a machine designed to destroy itself over the course of a thirty minute performance. As it transpired the performance didn’t go exactly as planned, but the consumer culture criticism was made and Tinguely reached a global audience. Organised by the Kunstpalast Düsseldorf in cooperation with the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam Super Meta Maxi promises a chronological journey through Jean Tinguely’ oeuvre including many of his interventions and creative cooperations and thus aims to provide a comprehensive portrait of a artist who generally worked against the portrait as a genre.
And on a side note, Super Meta Maxi isn’t Düsseldorf’s first meeting with the Dadaist Tinguely: in 1959 the city hosted Jean Tinguely’s first solo exhibition in Germany, an exhibition which culminated with Tinguely scattering his manifesto “Für Statik” – “For Statics”- from an aircraft over the city: “Everything is in motion. Nothing stands still ….. Stop “painting” time. Stop building cathedrals and pyramids that will crumble. Breathe deeply, live in the now, live for and in the moment. For a beautiful and absolute reality”

Jean Tinguely. Super Meta Maxi opens at Museum Kunstpalast, Ehrenhof 4-5, 40479 Düsseldorf on Saturday April 23rd and runs until Sunday August 14th

* MoMA Press Release, March 18th 1960 (pdf)

Jean Tinguely, Große Méta-Maxi-Maxi-Utopia (Photo Christina Baur, © Museum Tinguely, Basel, Donation Niki de Saint Phalle © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2015, Courtesy of Museum Kunstpalast Düsseldorf)

“Eero Aarnio” at the Designmuseo Helsinki, Finland

With his Ball Chair and Bubble Chair the Finnish designer Eero Aarnio not only gave the 1960s spirit of revolution, freedom and unlimited opportunity a physical form, but he also created new genres of furniture and helped forge new understandings of materials and production processes. More recently creations such as Puppy for Magis or the Rocket Stool for Artek have brought Eero Aarnio’s creativity into a new generation, and in context of the wooden Rocket Stool, a new material. Yet ubiquitous and instantly recognisable as his works are, Eero Aarnio himself remains largely unknown. With their retrospective the Designmuseo Helsinki aim to change that. Promising a mix of furniture, lighting and small objects, of mass produced products and one-off works from the 1950s to today and all complimented and extended by drawings, sketches, prototypes and personal objects the exhibition promises to be the most exhaustive exploration of Eero Aarnio the man and Eero Aarnio the designer ever staged.

Eero Aarnio opens at the Designmuseo, Korkeavuorenkatu 23, 00130 Helsinki on Friday April 8th and runs until Sunday September 25th

Eero Aarnio at the Designmuseo Helsinki

“Living in the Amsterdam School” at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Holland

Much like the German Jugendstil/Arts and Crafts movement fragmented in the inter-war years into the more traditional Werkbund and the avant-garde Bauhaus movements so to is the development of contemporary architecture and design in Holland characterised by a bruising fission: on the one side the brash young things of De Stijl and on the other the more conservative Amsterdam School. Whereas De Stijl in its numerous carnations and creative genres, and the architecture and architectural legacy of the Amsterdam School have been extensively researched, according to the Stedelijk Museum Living in the Amsterdam School presents the first museal exploration of the furniture and furnishings which accompanied the Amsterdam School’s architecture; and promising as it does some 500+ items certainly sounds like being extensive enough to ensure that the visitor can understand both the connection between the architecture and the interiors, but also why there was so much antagonism between the Amsterdam School and the De Stijl protagonists.

Living in the Amsterdam School opens at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Museumplein 10, 1071 DJ Amsterdam on Saturday April 9th and runs until Sunday August 28th

Armchair and coffee table by Liem Bwan Tjie, ca. 1930 (Photo Erik & Petra Hesmerg, Courtesy of Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam)

XXI Triennale International Exhibition: “21st Century. Design After Design”, Milan, Italy

For the 21st Milan Triennale the organisers have chosen to look at the 21st century and for all to ask what the future holds for designers and design as both a profession and as a notion. Featuring over 20 exhibitions at 11 locations in and around Milan the 21st Milan Triennale aims to explore questions such as how best to respond to the increasing conflict between our reliance on mass production and proliferation of new production processes, how should/will our cites and communities transform to reflect changing realities, what is the role of the designer in all this, what will the role of the designer become and for all what will “design” actually mean in the near future…. so after design?

The XXI Triennale International Exhibition, 21st Century. Design After Design, takes place at numerous locations in Milan from Saturday April 2nd until Monday September 12th

XXI Triennale International Exhibition: 21st Century.Design After Design, Milan

“Self-Propelled. Or how the Bicycle moves us” at the Kunstgewerbemuseum Dresden, Germany

Much like our relationship to photography is a purely functional, practical, one, so to our relationship with cycling. We simply don’t buy into all this “bike as lifestyle” nonsense.
Get on bike. Go to baker. Come home. Eat cake.
Get on bike. Go to cinema. Watch film. Get back on bike. Go home.
Get on bike. Go for long cycle. Narrowly avoid getting hit by bus. Come home. Feel fitter.

But this bike as a “cult” object ….. not with us.

And we suspect not with the Kunstgewerbemuseum Dresden.

With their exhibition Self-Propelled. Or how the Bicycle moves us the Kunstgewerbemuseum Dresden aim to explore the development of the bicycle in its cultural, social and technological context, of which the first two sound potentially the most interesting, promising as they do to explore how the bicycle as a democratic and universal tool has accompanied, defined and even enabled, numerous cultural and social movements. And no we don’t mean tattooed urbanites with racing caps.

Self-Propelled. Or how the Bicycle moves us opens at the Kunstgewerbemuseum, Schloss Pillnitz, Wasserpalais, August-Böckstiegel-Straße 2, 01326 Dresden on Saturday April 30th and runs until Tuesday November 1st

Typical Hipster! Littering the countryside without any consideration for the deeper cultural and social consequence of their actions, typical……