Agenda
imm Cologne
Cologne, Germany
For the international interior design sector, imm cologne is a prime platform. It’s the place for one to find out exactly which trends will be vital over the coming months. Here, under one roof, are a very wide range of market-ready
products. With its unique overview of the international gamma of products, imm Cologne remains an important arena for the global furniture trade and the experienced public. Together with the main fair, the new trade fair format Living Interiors is showing perfectly staged interior worlds consisting of furniture, bathrooms, floors, walls
and lighting, lending an overview on holistic living.
Stefan Sagmeister: Another exhibit about promotion and sales material
Paris, France
Austrian artist Stefan Sagmeister, who has lived in New York for the last 17 years, is said to be one of
the most original graphic designers of his generation, holding to his claim that there is no distinction between so-called ‘cultural’ and ‘commercial’ graphic design. He has worked for several musicians of note (Talking Heads,
Lou Reed, Rolling Stones), in addition to executing numerous commissions for companies and institutions like Levi’s and BMW. This exhibition, divided into four sections, focuses on the distinct typologies that Sagmeister distinguishes in his work: Selling culture, Selling corporations, Selling friends, and Selling myself.
Pascal Tassini
Liège, Belgium
Belgian artist Tassini Pascal is a leading personality at the Créahm art studios in Liège. A versatile artist, he has developed a coherent and sensitive universe in paintings, writings, models, assemblies, and textile designs over the past 15 years. In the confines of the studios, all of his work is condensed into a phenomenal installation of an organic and sprawling sort (La Cabane), made primarily of tied fabrics. Since 2006, Pascal Tassini totally immersed himself - and in a remarkable manner - in textile work, principally elaborating on the theme of marriage, by way of
multiple baroque headdresses and wedding outfits.
Under the Big Black Sun:
Los Angeles, California, USA
This exhibition constitutes the most comprehensive survey to date that examines the exceptional fertility and diversity of art practice in California during this unique period, when the political and social roles of artists, the authority of institutions, and the ‘objecthood’ of art were all being questioned. The exhibition argues that the rise of pluralism was the result not only of the collapse of established canons but also the proliferation of new and divergent
genres, mediums, and modes of production, where, in comparison to the East Coast, artists were free to pursue catholic interests in the absence of art institutions, commercial venues, and critical discourses.
Terence Conran
Design Museum
London, UK
Marking Sir Terence Conran’s 80th birthday, and how, is a major exhibition exploring his unique impact on contemporary life in Britain and beyond. Through his own design work combined with his decidedly entrepreneurial flair, Conran has transformed the British way of life. The Way We Live Now explores Conran’s impact and legacy, whilst also revealing his design approach and sources of inspiration, tracing his career from post-war austerity
through to the new sensibility brought by the Festival of Britain in the 1950s, then the birth of 1960s Pop Culture, the design boom of the 1980s and on to the present day.
Eames Words
A+D Museum
Los Angeles, California USA
Charles and Ray Eames inspired us to appreciate the world by honouring “the uncommon beauty of common things”. This exhibition reveals the lesser-known aspect of their lives, revealing their appreciation of the value of humble objects and useful tools. Their insights on the simple pleasures of daily life are illustrated with objects and materials from their time, and with contemporary examples from the world around us. From tumbleweed to strawberries, a bolt of cloth to a keg of nails, to elephants in India and the breads of Scandinavia, the whole world was their canvas. The technologies they used (and often invented) to record their appreciation were the most advanced.
Qubique Next Generation Trade Show : Furniture Design
Berlin, Germany
26 – 29 October
This claims to be the next generation tradeshow for furniture and interior design, meeting today's business challenges of globalisation, digitalisation, social and demographic change. The portfolio is limited to high profile and
authentic brands, those with a history of facing the future. Craftsmanship, the art of producing premium furniture and interior design objects, is a dedicated focus. Qubique creates interactions between the different living environments of design lovers and enthusiasts: art, music and fashion leave their mark on the show. In this way, correlations, design trends and new developments are revealed for visitors to experience, view, discuss and enjoy.
George Condo
Hayward Gallery
London, UK
18 October – 08 January 2012
This is the first major retrospective of the American artist George Condo. Since his emergence in New York’s East Village in the early 1980s, Condo has developed a provocative body of work that, for all its outlandish humour and outrageousness, is deeply engaged with the memory of European and American traditions of painting. Focusing here on his ‘imaginary portraits’, which conjure varied mental states and toss them together with a mixture of comic absurdity and heart-rending pathos, both sculpture and painting are incorporated. An exhibition offering a truly comprehensive review of three decades of Condo's art.
New Energy in Design and Art
15 October – 26 February 2012
For many a decade now, artists and designers have been conjuring up futuristic visions of a sustainable society. These innovative visions are becoming more and more relevant as time goes on. Today, more than ever, it is clear that there is an enormous need for a new sense of balance in our living environment. In the exhibition ‘New Energy in Design and Art’, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen presents numerous creative experiments in the field of sustainable energy, providing inspiration for better things to come.
Moscow Design Week 2011
Moscow, Russia
11–16 October
By far the most important annual design event in Russia, on offer is an intense programme dedicated to design in an extended sense, from product, fashion, and graphic design to the latest developments in architecture. MDW 2011 intends to create a platform for design in Russia and to set international business standards within the industry, along with supporting business and friendship worldwide. For an entire week, Moscow turns into a design cluster, summoning such professionals in the contemporary design domain as Maarten Baas, Giulio Cappellini, Luigi Colani, Paola Navone, Li Edelkoort, and numerous other design stars.
O’Clock Design del tempo, tempo del design
Milan, Italy
11 October – 08 January
O'Clock. Design del tempo, tempo del design, by Silvana Annicchiarico and Jan van Rossem. Together with
a special project set up by Patricia Urquiola, this exhibition is founded with the purpose of investigating the relationship between time and design. While the visual arts, film and photography have since developed a deep relationship with time, in the design field this matter is often limited to the categories of accuracy, measurability and
functionality. Yet the relationship between time and design is much more complex and thereby able to open-up surprising prospects in regard to aesthetics.
Los Angeles Fashion Week
Los Angeles, California USA
14 – 21 October
Los Angeles Fashion Week presents its 2012 Spring Collections, nicely dovetailing with the city's Market Week, in the showrooms of Downtown Los Angeles. Events begin with Concept Fashion Week at Ace Gallery and conclude with LA Fashion Weekend, thereby extending the eventful week a few more days still. The Fashion Week LA calendar on their website is updated weekly with the detailed news, and can, of course, be avidly followed on Twitter @ FashionWeekLA.
EXD'11
Lisbon, Portugal
28 September – 27 November
USELESS, the theme of this year's Lisbon Biennale, provides insight and incentive, challenging the audience to discuss and reflect on concepts and preconceptions connected to 'use' and its absence. This provocative theme
leads to concrete issues like creative production and consumption from the point of view of usefulness, function and
resources. Likewise, it inspires a more conceptual and symbolic reflection on the importance of things like beauty, dreams and invention. Leading, thoughtprovoking figures in graphic design, product design, social design and architecture are gathered here. Programmed are lectures, debates, exhibitions, urban interventions, film, workshops and parallel events.
The Bel Paese of Art
Galleria d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Bergamo
28 September - 19 February 2012
Staged to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the unification of Italy, this is an exhibition devised to showcase its worldwide image, its vast variety of visual expressions, from cinema to art, literature and design, within both the elite and pop cultures. And this by way of 200 works by Italian and international artists. There are also 'things and events' from the 19th century to the current era, such as the writings of Rita Levi Montalcini that earned her a Nobel
Prize. This exhibition demonstrates the decisive influence of artistic creation on the practical organisation of Italy’s social life during the past century-and-a-half.
Postmodernism: Style and Subversion 1970-1990
London, UK
24 September – 15 January 2012
In this expo the V&A explores the meaning and origins of Postmodernism. Having first emerged in architecture, eschewing the minimalism of Modernism, these ideas began to influence other areas of design, including furniture and graphics. Here we see the popular side of Postmodernism, especially the music - New Wave and Hip-hop, plus the raves and graffiti art. Design became big business in the boom years of the 1980s when speed, excess and fame were keywords and 'more is more' was the mantra. This is the first in-depth survey of the art, design and architecture of the 1970s and 1980s, examining one of the most contentious phenomena in recent art and design history.
Object Rotterdam
Las Building, Rotterdam, the Netherlands
This offshoot of Art Rotterdam takes place for the fourth time and aspires to be the place where the ‘cutting edge between art and design becomes evident’. Described as an ‘international fair for autonomous design’, 20 galleries from the Netherlands and abroad present unique or limited edition objects in the field of contemporary design, crafts and jewellery. Among the special features, Object Rotterdam plays host to the world premier of ‘In Collaboration With Wood’, a series of wooden chairs by renowned Dutch designer Aldo Bakker, presented by Particles Gallery from Amsterdam.
Stockholm Furniture Fair & Northern Light Fair 2011
Stockholmsmässan, Stockholm, Sweden
It’s time for the annual snapshot of Nordic & Scandinavian design and unlike the cattle herd mentality of some trade fairs, the size and focus of Stockholm’s date on the international design calendar makes it a far more personal experience than most. With around 80% of exhibitors from Sweden & selected international brands, the 2011 edition includes the regular look at design schools & independent designers in the arena of the Greenhouse, and this year features Arik Levy as its Guest of Honour. Away from the fairground, there will be numerous design exhibitions & events in the showrooms, museums, galleries & transformed spaces of the city centre.
TAIK 140
Design Museum, Helsinki, Finland
With Helsinki gearing itself up for its role as the World Design Capital 2012, this show is an opportunity to get to grips with the design culture and traditions of the region. The School of Art and Design of the Aalto University, the former University of Art and Design Helsinki, has been a central actor of the history and evolution of Finnish design. All the country's leading designers have passed through its doors, as either students or faculty. This exhibition will address the history, present and future of this largest school of design in the Nordic countries.
SPAGAT!
Marta Herford, Herford, Germany
Describing Istanbul as a ‘dancing city’ that is ‘loud, boisterous, wild, rough, passionate and ecstatic’, this exhibition shows how its design scene reflects such sentiments in the work of some 30 designers, design studios and artists. Alongside the exhibition element, the project is designed to be a discussion and production platform laboratory focusing on general evolutions in design and issues such as globalisation, with curator Max Borka immersing himself in the ‘nature of design’ by living & working in an apartment cum office during the duration of the show, in between the exhibits, and acting as host to visitors.
Environments and Counter Environments 'Italy: The New Domestic Landscape' MoMA 1972
Disseny Hub Barcelona (DHUB), Barcelona, Spain
A form of media archaeology that attempts to reassess the visionary possibilities of architecture and design suggested by the 1972 exhibition of the title, this show brings together the MoMA commissioned films and media projects by the likes of Mario Bellini; Alberto Rosselli; Marco Zanuso and Richard Sapper; Joe Colombo; Gae Aulenti; Ettore Sottsass Jr.; Gaetano Pesce; Archizoom; Superstudio; Ugo La Pietra; Gruppo Strum and 9999. Long missing, the films were fundamental to the understanding of the exhibition’s most ambitious and polemical claims. The DHUB adaptation includes original collages, drawings, models and digital projections of documentary photography of the environments installed in the MoMA.