I haven’t been yet but this exhibition promises to be good – catch it now before it finishes on the Feb 7th. The exhibition has been curated by Konstantin Grcic and focuses on mass-produced objects designed in the last decade.
The Serpentine are also running a Design Real seminar series discussing themes relating to the exhibition, the next one on Thursday 21st January will be by Alex Rich, who was a collaborator on the exhibition design, and Tim Parsons.
We went to the Eco Home exhibition at the Geffrye Museum today and I was disappointed. The exhibition aims to ‘examine current ideas around ‘eco-living’ in informative and timely ways’. A lot of the pieces are reminiscent of early ReDesign exhibitions packed full of lampshades made from ‘used’ cardboard, cushions woven from seatbelts and stools formed by rolled up ‘old’ newspapers (about 50 or so of the same issue). I can overlook the dubiousness of the material reuse (perfectly clean, un-creased cardboard, non-frayed seatbelts and un-dog-eared newspapers) but more generally the objects of this ilk have questionable eco credentials. How long can a paper vase or a cardboard lampshade really last? How much energy does it take to melt down aluminum and re-mould it into a chair? How many glass bottles do we get through in comparision to how many cut bottle vases (cut in Guatemala I might add) we would need in our homes?
Creating ‘desirable new products for the home’ is only going to perpetuate our need to consume and dispose. I don’t think the fact that these objects had a previous life is enough to give these objects the ‘emotional durability’ that the curator talks of.
Film of the curator talking about the exhibition.
Some other examples of the exhibits: the Wattson (a domestic energy use surveillance system), wind-up radios, draft excluders, showers timers…
Last gripe – printing the exhibition text on cardboard does not an ‘eco-friendly’ exhibition make!
Visit if you’re in the area but don’t make a special trip.
We went to the Eco Home exhibition at the Geffrye Museum today and I was very disappointed. The exhibition aims to ‘examine current ideas around ‘eco-living’ in an informative and timely ways’. A lot of the pieces are reminiscent of early ReDesign exhibition days packed full of lampshades made from ‘used’ cardboard, cushions woven from seatbelts and stools formed from rolled up ‘old’ newspapers (about 50 or so of the same issue). I can overlook the dubiousness of the material reuse (perfectly clean, un-creased cardboard, non-frayed seatbelts and un-dog-eared newspapers) but more generally the objects of this ilk have questionable eco credentials. How long can a paper vase or a cardboard lampshade really last? How much energy does it take to melt down aluminum and re-mould it into a chair? How many glass bottles do we get through in comparision to how many cut bottle vases we would need in our home(made in Guatemala I might add)? Creating ‘desirable new products for the home’ is only going to perpetuate our need to consume and dispose.
Some other examples of the exhibits: the Watson (a domestic energy use surveillance system), wind-up radios, draft excluders, showers timers… We need to move beyond re-design and energy surveillance systems that all piggy-back onto existing objects or practices towards new objects and practices.
Last gripe – printing the exhibition text on cardboard does not an ‘eco-friendly’ exhibition design make!
Visit if you’re in the area but don’t make a special trip.
At long last I managed to get along to see Roger Hiorns’ Seizure. If you haven’t been, go before it closes on the 3rd January.
It’s a brilliant piece of work and deserves the nomination it’s received for the Turner Prize. Since walking out of the flat I’ve tried to work out why I enjoyed it so much, why did it enchanted me? One of my first thoughts is that the scale and materiality of the piece in some way inspires awe and wonder.
The colour and form of the copper sulphate crystals make it feel like a secret, magical place. You feel like you’ve just walked into a jewel mine on a council estate of the Elephant and Castle. But beyond this, it’s not just the beauty of the piece, it also has a haunting feeling. I felt perched on the apex between growth and decay, between generation and degeneration, between life and death.
I particularly like Hiorns’ approach to the longevity of the work. Although he’s received an offer to buy it, he refuses – it’ll be destroyed when the housing block is demolished. Therefore it’s likely to remain as one of those pieces that exists through images, writing and our cultural imaginations – much like the Racheal Whiteread’s House and Robert Smithson’s Partially Buried Woodshed.
I am very pleased to announce that we have a new member of staff in the department – David Cameron who is the newest member of the Interaction Research Studio. David is one half of the design duo &madewith Toby Hadden. After graduating from Goldsmiths they set up their studio in 2005 which quickly became internationally recognised.
In 2006 &made was endorsed by Terrance Conran in the Times newspaper as the ‘Best of the British’ as well as exhibiting at several iconic exhibitions including ‘Ingenious Therapies: Great Brits’at the Design Museum / British Council and ‘Design for the Elastic Mind‘ at the Museum of Modern Art.
Last night I went to Mariscal‘s Drawing Life ‘conference‘ at the BFI with Laura, Jimmy and Rosario. It was a strange and amazing experience. The importance of Mariscal as cultural phenomenon is lost slightly in Britain – we don’t have an equivalent – which made it even more impressive. He performed live on stage, drawing, animating and acting in a wonderful multimedia experience.
The performance was brilliantly planned, without being overly polished. It had a humility about it, that at times moved into the naive, but managed to charm and delight the audience. The whole performance acted as an astute piece of cultural critique, without being patronizing or elitist. For anyone who enjoys drawing, it was an amazing thing to watch. If you ever get chance to see one the performances, I’d highly recommend it.
Note: Mariscal’s daughter, Julia, studied in the department and now has a blossoming art practice.
Finally managed to get to the new Ceramics Galleries at the V&A, having missed the Materials Library event there back in September. The truly breathtaking collection of world ceramics, from hand-made to industrial, ancient to contemporary, re-emerges from storage and is exquisitely exhibited in daylight-lit galleries, designed by architects Stanton Williams. Mapping cultural and stylistic connections across the diverse collection, the galleries also explore in some detail ceramic materials and processes, including a workshop area and resident artist.
Highlights for me were Richard Slee’s ‘Sausage’, a curious arrangement of oversized ceramic banger, Black & Decker Workmate and assorted bungee cords (it’s a man thing!); Nishimura Yohei’s ghostly ‘Fired Issue of Time Out Magazine’, which uses the china clay content within the magazine’s paper to form the object; and Li Lihong’s ‘McDonalds #1’, the famous arches rendered in traditional Chinese blue & white porcelain.
Inevitably, perhaps – there are, after all, over 3000 exhibits – in depth critique of the aesthetic decisions or cultural context behind most of the pieces is limited to brief text cards. Nevertheless the new galleries are an amazing resource for designers and makers – and they’re FREE. What’s more, this is only phase 1; more galleries are being prepared to house the remaining 26,000 pieces of the collection and will open next year.
I went to the Sophie Calle exhibition Talking to Strangers at the Whitechapel Gallery yesterday. The exhibition showcases the translated work from a piece called Prenez soin de vous (Take Care of Yourself). When the artist received a break-up e-mail from an ex-partner ending with “take care of yourself” she set about asking 107 female professionals; from criminologists to fiction writers to interpret his words. It is a good example of how through many translations and iterations you can find new meaning. It is certainly worth a visit.
contemporary, re-emerges from storage and is exquisitely exhibited in daylight-lit galleries, designed by architects Stanton Williams. Mapping cultural and stylistic connections across the diverse collection, the galleries also explore in some detail ceramic materials and processes, including a workshop area and resident artist.