The Danner-Rotunda at Die Neue Sammlung – The International Design Museum Munich presents contemporary works from over hundred international goldsmiths. The exhibition is to a large extend drawn from the international collection of the Danner Foundation (Danner-Stiftung). The collection reflects the broad creative spectrum of modern jewelry arts, starting with the avant-garde artists of the 60’s and their immediate successors up to the experiment-focussed jewelry visions of the present day. They stem from European countries including Italy, the Netherlands, Great Britain, Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Spain, as well as from the USA, Australia, Japan and New Zealand. Other exhibits come from the collection of Die Neue Sammlung and private loans.

In rotation of several of several years, guest curators are invited to present a different view on the Danner Collection. The inaugural exhibition has been curated by Professor Hermann Jünger, who was Director of Studies for Gold Work at Munich’s Academy of Fine Arts from 1971 to 1990, and Professor Otto Künzli, who took over his task starting 1991.

The current exhibition has been curated by Karl Fritsch, a renowned protagonist of the international jewelry scene. The Danner Collection is the core of the new exhibition. By expanding it with pieces from the loan of the gallery Spektrum, the donation of Peter Skubic, and donations and loans by individual jewelry artists, Karl Fritsch provides the visitor with a fresh and exceptional insight into the international jewelry art scene.

Danner Rotunda. New. Curated by Karl Fritsch. Curator Karl Fritsch in Conversation with Dr. Corinna Rösner (Chief Curator Die Neue Sammlung). Die Neue Sammlung – The International Design Museum Munich, March 5, 2010.

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• Giampaolo Babetto: L'Italianita dei Gioielli / Die Neue Sammlung – The International Design Museum Munich

For his solo show “L’Italianita dei Gioielli” at Die Neue Sammlung – The International Design Museum Munich italian jewelry artist Giampaolo Babetto created an exhibition tailor-made to the circular, light-filled gallery space on the second floor of the rotunda in the Pinakothek der Moderne. In this video we have a look at the exhibition and Dr. Corinna Rösner, Chief Curator of Die Neue Sammlung provides us with an introduction to Giampaolo Babetto’s work.

Giampaolo Babetto (born 1947 in Padua) has had a marked influence on the avant-garde goldsmiths’ scene since the late 1960s. He is one of the protagonists of the so-called Padua School and has significantly moulded the image of art jewellery in Italy. Babetto’s works are decidedly contemporary, distinct and radical with regard to their formal reduction – and deeply rooted in Italian culture. Babetto’s work reflects contemporary art movements such as concrete art, minimal art, kinetic or op art in a unique, purist and plastic manner. Made up of different abstract elements, broken down into modular units, or rendered moveable through the use of ingenious links, Babetto’s works have a tectonic character – like mini architectural pieces or mini sculptures.

The artist prefers working in gold due to its stable malleability and its warm sheen which he combines with unconventional materials such as plastic or glass, dusting the surface with a velvet-like pigment in luminous reds or blues or using enamel and age-old niello-based techniques.

“Babetto’s works mirror a refined aesthetic concept based on dialogue, interrelationships and a blurring of boundaries between art genres.” (Florian Hufnagl, Director of Die Neue Sammlung).

A publication with texts by Dorothea Baumer and Ellen Maurer together with photographs by Ulrike Myrzik and Manfred Jarisch accompagnies the exhibition. An exhibition of Die Neue Sammlung – The International Design Museum Munich In co-operation with Istituto Italiano di Cultura, Munich.

Giampaolo Babetto: L’Italianita dei Gioielli / Die Neue Sammlung – The International Design Museum Munich. March 5, 2010.

Giampaolo Babetto in conversation with Dr. Corinna Rösner (in German language): Click here.

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Related Articles:

• The Danner Rotunda – Jewelry Arts in the Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich curated by Karl Fritsch

From February 19th to May 16th 2010, La Maison Rouge in Paris, France presents Vinyl, an exhibition of records and covers compiled by the British collector, publisher and curator Guy Schraenen. For more than 30 years, Guy Schraenen’s fascination with artists’ multiples (objects, catalogues, books, magazines) has led him to amass a unique and highly specialised collection on the theme of sound. Vinyl shows LPs from an acoustic and visual angle to illustrate how artists from the 1920s and throughout the twentieth century have experimented with language and sound. The exhibition presents close to 800 albums alongside tapes, CDs, specialist magazines, reference books, catalogues and artworks.

In this video by Christophe Ecoffet, Guy Schraenen talks about his interest in the relationship between visual art and sound, and the concept of the exhibition.

Vinyl, Records and Covers by Artists / La Maison Rouge, Paris. Interview with Guy Schraenen, February 18, 2010.

More information after the jump.

PS (March15, 2010): Review by Heinz Peter Schwerfel at Art – Das Kunstmagazin (in German language).

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The VitraHaus is the newest addition to the architecture park that the furniture company Vitra has realized during the last decades on their company site. The premises now features architecture by Nicholas Grimshaw (who realized the first building after a blaze that destroyed the old building and conceived the master plan for the site), Zaha Hadid (Fire Station), Antonio Citterio, Tadao Ando, Alvaro Siza, SANAA, Jasper Morrison, Richard Buckminster Fuller, Jean Prouvé, and Frank Gehry (Vitra Design Museum).

One of the challenges the architects faced was to realize a building that didn’t dominate the existing architecture, especially Gehry’s Vitra Design Museum. The new building is no monolithic block. Instead, it looks like ordinary residential houses with saddle roof that have been stacked on top of each other randomly. For Herzog & de Meuron the very simple house form was an obvious choice, given the fact that Vitra is a furniture company. But the fact that the “houses” are crashed into each other, creates unexpected, intersecting spaces.

This video was shot during the press preview and shows the exterior as well as the interior of the new VitraHaus and an excerpt of Jacques Herzog discussing the VitraHaus concept.

VitraHaus, Press Preview. Vitra Campus, Weil am Rhein / Germany, February 12, 2010.

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For his Real Time Project, Dutch designer Maarten Baas became a film director. Thanks to new technologies in video, it’s possible to produce videos of 12- or even 24 hours in length. This makes it possible to film a movie that can function as a clock. Maarten Baas created a clock collection by using the language of cinema. The passing of the time is shown by people who are shot and screened in a true interval of 12 or 24 hours. There’s the Grandfather Clock (the screen is an integrated part of a Grandfather Clock showing a film of a man, drawing the hands of a clock), the Sweepers Clock (people are making the hands of a clock by sweeping garbage all day long), the Analog Digital (the LED lights are managed by someone who either paints them to make them dark, or wipes them clean to have the red light shine through), the World Clock (people in three different countries are indicating the local time, using their daily things to be the hands of a clock.). Maarten Baas’ Real Time has been shown at Design Miami Basel 2009, Milan Salone 2009, Design Miami 2009, and the Zuiderzeemuseum. The clocks will be available on Blu Ray Disc.

From February 19, 2010, Maarten Baas has a solo show at the Stedelijk Museum in ’s-Hertogenbosch.

Maarten Baas: Real Time Project, Design Miami 2009. December 1, 2009.

Click here for an interview with Designer of the Year Maarten Baas at Design Miami 2009.

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Neon Monster is an art and design collective based in San Francisco that curates and creates limited edition experiences: handpicked selections of art, limited edition multiples, designer toys, current and back-issue comics, and new and vintage vinyl records. Neon Monster was founded in October 2007 by four collectors. John Crowe, Kristy Klinck, and brothers Jacob and Isaac Pritzker wanted to share their love for limited edition collectibles. Neon Monster also curates and hosts art shows featuring works by local and national artists. In this video, filmed at their temporary show in Miami’s Design District during Art Basel Miami Beach 2009, partners Kristy Klinck and John Crowe introduce us into the world of Neon Monster.

Neon Monster at Limited Edition Experiences at The F Factory Moore Building, Design District Miami. November 30, 2009.

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In April 2009 Design Miami and Fendi startet the Craft Punk project that built upon the Design Miami’s Design Performance program, which was intended to showcase “design in action” and to allow Design Miami visitors to get insight into the process underlying the creation of experimental design. For Design Miami 2009, the design fair presented a collaboration between tech-designer Moritz Waldemeyer and pop group Ok Go. Moritz Waldemeyer customized Gibson guitars with laser lights and Fendi materials. When played, the guitars’ lasers interact with a video wall and leave traces that illustrate the music in real time. The guitars become like musical paintbrushes. Ok Go performed during Design Miami 2009, after the show the guitars have been given to Ok Go to use on their tour.

Widely recognized as one of the most innovative and exciting designers of his generation, Moritz Waldemeyer, aged 34, was born in East Germany. He moved to London thirteen years ago, where he has trained as an engineer at Kings College and completed his Masters degree in 2001. Since then, Waldemeyer has collaborated with many of the world’s top architects and fashion designers including Ron Arad, Zaha Hadid and Hussein Chalayan. His work fuses technology, art, fashion and design.

Gaining wide popularity with their award- winning video featuring an elaborately choreographed routine on treadmills, Ok Go is a guitar-based rock band originally from Chicago and now residing in Los Angeles. The band is composed of Damian Kulash (lead vocals and guitar), Tim Nordwind (bass guitar and backing vocals), Dan Konopka (drums and percussion), and Andy Ross (keyboards, guitar and backing vocals). Ok Go is set to release their third studio album Of the Blue Colour of the Sky in January 2010.

Moritz Waldemeyer & Ok Go Design Performance at Design Miami 2009. Miami / USA, December 1, 2009.

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On December 3rd, during Design Miami 2009, Luminaire opened its showroom in Miami’s Design District. One of the highlights was the installation The Third Space conceived by 52 German interior design students. In this video, Sabine Trieloff talks with four of the students who created the installation during the opening of the exhibition at the Luminaire showroom.

The installation is meant as an experiment which combines the work of all three divisions the course „interior architecture“ at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich consists of (interior design, product design and designing in free space). To communicate the trans-disciplinary basic idea of the study course in full size, the students created an installation in order to make interior space sensible instead of just showing a retrospect of the students work. The project deals with sociological terms such as profiling, community or privacy and translates them into specific spacious situations. Is there any interior design without form, style and spirit of age? What are the real qualities of good design? How do interior corresponds with outdoor spaces? The students created the installation by their own hands during 16,870 hours of work with 1 292 300 zip ties.

The installation premiered in 2008 in Munich where it was shown at Pinakothek der Moderne and then traveled in new modification to Dresden (Ostrale 2008) and to Langenthal, Switzerland, where “The Third Space” won the Designers’ Saturday Award Best Stand Design. In 2009 it was already shown at gallery Aedes Berlin and Lothar Fischer Museum Neumarkt.

The Third Space, Luminaire showroom, Miami Design District. Opening reception and interview, December 3, 2009.

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The design studio Atelier Oï was founded in 1991 in La Neuveville in Switzerland by Aurel Aebi, Louis Armand and Patrick Reymond. The name of their studio is inspired by the the Russian word for trio, Tr(oi)ka.

Their work ranges from design and set design to architecture. Their work has been recognized by various awards such as the if Design Award (2003), the Living at Hoome Award (2007) or the Product of the Year Award (Architectural Record, USA, 2008).

At the booth of Mitterrand & Cramer Gallery at Design Miami 2009, VernissageTV happily ran into two of the founders of Atelier Oï, Aurel Aebi and Patrick Reymond. Mitterrand & Cramer was presenting their scenic and scenic work “Les Danseuses” (The Dancers). The installation has been developed for the inauguration of Atelier Oï’s new space, the Moïtelle.

In this conversation with Sabine Trieloff, Aurel Aebi talks about “Les Danseues” and a related work made of Corian, their creative work and how the three creative partners work together, Atelier Oï’s “Materiotheque”, their connection with ECAL (University of Art and Design Lausanne), and future projects.

Interview with Aurel Aebi at Design Miami 2009, December 1, 2009.

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On the occasion of the opening of the Rosa and Carlos de la Cruz Collection Contemporary Art Space in Miami’s Design District, VernissageTV met with the architect of the new space, John Marquette.

In the second part of Sabine Trieloff’s conversation with John Marquette, the Miami-based designer talks in detail about the different elements of the building such as the large window on the north side of the building or the roof top terrace, about how the natural light and artificial lighting was dealt with and used in a space that has been conceived for the presentation of art, and finally about his design philosophy and his design studio in Miami.

Interview with John Marquette at the occasion of the opening of the Rosa and Carlos de la Cruz Collection Contemporary Art Space in Miami’s Design District. Part 2/2. Miami, December 3, 2009.

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Related Articles:

• Interview with Designer John Marquette / part 1/2
• Interview with Rosa de la Cruz / Rosa and Carlos de la Cruz Collection, Miami / Part 2/2
• Interview with Rosa de la Cruz / Rosa and Carlos de la Cruz Collection, Miami / Part 1/2
• Interview with Jonathan Meese at Rosa and Carlos de la Cruz Collection, Miami

Coinciding with Art Basel Miami Beach 2009, the collectors Rosa and Carlos de la Cruz opened the Rosa and Carlos de la Cruz Collection Contemporary Art Space in Miami’s Design District. The new space houses the personal collection of Rosa and Carlos de la Cruz and serves as an extension of their home.

The three-story, 30,000 sq. ft. space has been designed by John Marquette. John Marquette runs his own design studio John Marquette Design and he also represents Driade, Maxalto, Vitra and Zanotta.

In this conversation with Sabine Trieloff, John Marquette talks about the design and construction of the new space: the concept, the challenges, the collaboration with the collectors, sustainability issues, and the role of the space as cultural element in the neighborhood.

Interview with John Marquette on the occasion of the opening of the Rosa and Carlos de la Cruz Collection Contemporary Art Space in Miami’s Design District. Part 1/2. Miami, December 3, 2009.

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Related Articles:

• Interview with Designer John Marquette / part 2/2
• Interview with Rosa de la Cruz / Rosa and Carlos de la Cruz Collection, Miami / Part 2/2
• Interview with Rosa de la Cruz / Rosa and Carlos de la Cruz Collection, Miami / Part 1/2
• Interview with Jonathan Meese at Rosa and Carlos de la Cruz Collection, Miami

Dzine (b. Carlos Rolon, 1970) is a Chicago-based artist who appropriates elements from popular culture, Baroque design, and the Arts and Crafts movement, to develop his own language. As media, he mainly uses sculpture, painting and installation.

For his exhibition at the Bass Museum of Art in Miami, Dzine created a new custom lowrider tricycle inspired by the concept of Ghost Bike memorials. A ghost bike is a bicycle painted white and chained to a pole near the place where a cyclist has been hurt or killed by a car as a roadside memorial. Dzine’s Ghost Bike is a tricycle painted white and fitted with Swarovski crystals, mirror, fabric, video and audio. The film, conceived by Dzine and Joey Garfield, and edited by Dan Zabinski, consists of film footage Dzine found in his fathers house, and features music by Héctor Lavoe.

Additional works on display are, among others, “The Love Below (Custom Speaker Box Chandelier)”, a customized chandelier with Swarovski crystals fabric, light bulbs, wire and audio; “Across the Universe”, a wall installation with mirror, Swarovski crystals and turntable; and “Infinite Mararishi (after Yajoi Kusama)”, a colorful installation with glass beads, crystals, and mirrors.

Dzine lives and works in Chicago and San Juan. He is a recipient of the Joan Mitchell Foundation award for Painting and Sculpture. Dzines work has been included in exhibitions and collections such as the Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York, the Pinchuk Art Centre, Kiev, and the Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, San Juan. In 2007 Deitch Projects, NY presented Barrio Dreams, introducing the new sculptural work influenced by the Chicano Lowrider culture at Art Basel Miami Beach. He also participated in the exhibition “Poem of an Inland Sea” at the Ukrainian Pavilion, 52nd Biennale di Venezia. A solo exhibition at Galerie Krinzinger in Vienna, Austria, is scheduled to open in Spring 2010.

“From site-specific wall installations to his “pimped-out” Cadillac Fleetwood to shimmering Swarovski Crystals, Dzine’s energetic manifestation of colors, patterns, textures, and sounds fuse into a modern phenomenon that reveals a vibrant mixture of street-art, op-art, and Chicano “Lowrider” culture. A former graffiti artist, Dzine has been able to bolster the semantics of this genre by stretching the boundaries further and bringing never seen before products to the table. His use of precious stones, neon-lights, and motorized machinery has opened up a unique vernacular to contemporary art.” (Excerpt from the press release).

In this video, Dzine talks about his exhibition at the Bass Museum, especially the Ghost Bike, and the new direction in his paintings.

Interview: Sabine Trieloff. Dzine at the Bass Museum of Art, Miami, opening reception, December 2, 2009.

PS: Special thanks to Ursula Krinzinger.

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At Design Miami 2009, Dutch designer Maarten Baas has been awarded the Designer of the Year price. On the occasion of this award, Maarten Baas presented a retrospective of his work, including pieces of his famous Smoke and Clay furniture series. Also on display: Maarten Baas’ Real Time Project, a series of videos depicting a real time clock, with actors moving the watch hands as time passes by.

In this conversation with Sabine Trieloff, Maarten Baas talks about his design philosophy and the piece he has created for Design Miami 2009, looks back at the objects he has designed, gives an insight into his Real Time Project, and an outlook on his future projects.

Maarten Baas was born in 1978 in Arnsberg, Germany. He lives and works in s-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands. Maarten Baas studied at the Design Academy Eindhoven, where he graduated in 2002 with a series of burned furniture called Smoke. Since then, he has received numerous awards, took part in important exhibitions, and received assignments from hotels, restaurants, galleries and museums all over the world. In 2005 Maarten Baas started a collaboration with Bas den Herder. The studio Baas & den Herder develops all new products.

From February 19 to May 24, the Stedelijk museum ’s-Hertogenbosch will present the exhibition “Making Things Personal: Maarten Baas”.

Interview with Designer of the Year Maarten Baas, Design Miami 2009. December 1, 2009.

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For the 2009 edition of the design fair Design Miami, architect and designer Greg Lynn created the HSBC Lounge and a large installation for Swarovski Crystal Palace. Greg Lynn’s installation for Swarovski extends over 80 square metres and reaches over seven metres in heigh. The ‘walls’ and ‘ceiling’ are made of Swarovski crystal-encrusted suspended panels or “sails” where moulded, curved and billowing shapes overlap and intersect. The installation uses cutting edge technology from the sailing and shipbuilding industry. Carbon and aramid fibres are compressed between transparent sheets of Mylar to make strong, lightweight and transparent sails that are less than 1mm thick. “The sails are made to cope with massive loads from the wind,” Lynn comments. “It’s like hanging 3 SUVs off a paper thin sheet.”

Interview with architect and designer Greg Lynn, Design Miami 2009, December 1, 2009. Interview: Sabine Trieloff.

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FriendsWithYou is an art collective founded by the Miami-based artists, Rev. Samuel Albert Borkson and Arturo “Tury” Sandoval III. At the occasion of the opening of their new Flagship Store and Studio in the Miami Design District, VernissageTV had a look at their new shop and studio.

FriendsWithYou was founded in 2002. Since then, FriendsWithYou promote the two artists’ common message of magic, luck, and friendship, through its designer toy line, public art installations, live performances and various animation, motion picture and multimedia projects.

They have participated in shows such as Art Basel Miami Beach or Pictoplasma (Festival of contemporary character design and art) in Berlin.

Interview with Samuel Borkson and Arturo Sandoval at FriendsWithYou Flagship Store and Studio in the Design District in Miami / USA. November 30, 2009.

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With the 2009 edition, Design Miami celebrates its 5th Anniversary. Design Miami starts a day earlier than the art fair Art Basel Miami Beach (ABMB), and presents works that could also easily be shown at ABMB, Maarten Baas’ Real Time project, for example, or the Workshop Workshop project by Jim Drain, Graham Hudson and P. Scott Cunningham.

Design Miami shows modern and contemporary design objects from 17 galleries from around the world in a stylish tent designed by Aranda/Lasch. There’s a retrospective of the work of Maarten Baas, who is featured as the designer of the year, a design performance by techno-design pioneer Moritz Waldemeyer and rock band OK Go, and a huge installation by architect and designer Greg Lynn for Swarovski Crystal Palace (interviews with Greg Lynn, Maarten Baas and Atelier Oi coming soon)!

Design Miami 2009. Collector’s Preview and Vernissage, December 1, 2009.

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Sophie Taeuber-Arp: Avant-garde Pathways at the Museo Picasso Málaga is the first retrospective of the work of Swiss artist Sophie Taeuber-Arp in Spain. The show presents over 130 exhibits that include paintings, drawings, collages, textiles, puppets, plans, photographs, sculptures and furniture. The exhibition is divided into three sections: Broken Rhythm examines the work from her earliest period, in which Dada and Constructivism coexist openly, side by side; Inhabiting Spaces explains the artist’s contribution to interior design and architecture; and Living Geometry focuses on her actual geometric compositions.

The exhibition is curated by Estrella de Diego, Professor of Contemporary Art at the Complutense University in Madrid. In this video, Estrella de Diego talks about the concept of the exhibition, the scope of Sophie Taeuber-Arp’s work, and Sophie Taeuber-Arp’s influence on her contemporaries. She also lets us know what the most surprising findings were during the research for the exhibition and identifies a work that for her expresses the essence of Sophie Taeuber-Arp’s oeuvre.

Estrella de Diego has been a guest lecturer at universities in Spain and abroad, and has curated numerous exhibitions, including Lost Bodies. Photography and the Surrealists (Fundación La Caixa, 1996) and Warhol on Warhol (La Casa Encendida, 2007). Her research focuses on gender theory and visual studies, subjects on which she has written widely. Her books include Tristísimo Warhol (Very Sad Warhol), Editorial Siruela, Madrid, 1999; Querida Gala. Las vidas ocultas de Gala Dalí (Dear Gala. The Hidden Lives of Gala Dalí), Espasa, 2003; and Maruja Mallo, Fundación Mapfre, 2008.

Sophie Taeuber-Arp (1889-1943) was born in Davos, Switzerland. Sophie Täuber studied at the School of Applied Arts in St. Gallen (1908-1910). In 1911 and 1913 Sophie Täuber studied in Munich at the workshop of Wilhelm von Debschits, in between, she studied at the School of Arts and Crafts in Hamburg. In 1916, she attended the Leban School of Dance in Zürich.

Sophie Taeuber-Arp: Avant-garde Pathways / Museo Picasso Málaga, Spain. Interview with curator Estrella de Diego, October 19, 2009.

See also: Museo Picasso Malaga / Interview with Artistic Director José Lebrero Stals.

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Related Articles:

• Museo Picasso Malaga / Interview with Artistic Director José Lebrero Stals

German artist John Bock’s event at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt in Berlin was announced as a lecture, bearing a rather long title – and turned out to be an entertaining fashion show with weird vogue, underground action and some animals that were not injured.

John Bock’s show Die abgeschmierte Knicklenkung im Gepäck verheddert sich im weissen Hemd (The greased bendsteering in the luggage gets tangled up with the white shirt) is described by the organizers as “a GlitterMotterRun of Quasi Me’s. Wrappings bend into analytical diagrams. The animalistic Existo sprays lubing-sparks into the Recipient-Cuboid. Turnaroundround round around from beginning over Now-Time to the end of Later-Time with have hair nice.”

The same in German: “Einen GlidderModderlauf der Quasi-Me’s. Umhüllungen knicken sich zu analytischen Diagrammen. Der Animalische Existo sprüht Schmierfunken in den Rezipientenquader. Drehrumdrum um herum von Anfang über Jetzt-Zeit zum Ende der Später-Zeit. Mit hab Haare schön.”

You don’t understand a thing? Don’t complain. As art aficionado you should be used to cryptical catalog texts and press releases. But if you know what it means, please send an equally unobscured explanation / translation of it to the VernissageTV HQ. We promise to publish it. Even if it’s in the Libyan dialect Muammar Gadafi uses.

The lecture itself was entertaining indeed. Although some art professionals complained about being bored by the show. Quote: “Real fashion shows are far more exciting and too much fashion, too little John Bock”. Well, I’m not a frequent guest at Karl’s or Tom’s shows, so I wasn’t bored. That’s a lot for me because one of the reasons I love contemporary art is that I’m not forced to wait for the concert to be over when I enter a gallery. But yes, there was a little too much fashion and too little John Bock, and as my friend Philippe is Dada in text and person, I wasn’t too much impressed by the KnicklenkungDadaBlaba either. Conclusion: The lecture / fashion show was a pleasant surprise, and the cotton swabs, with which I identify him, had also their appearance.

John Bock was suggested by Rirkrit Tiravanija for The Spirit of the Haus, the events celebrating the 20th birthday of the Haus der Kulturen der Welt in Berlin. His fashion show has been performed on September 25 and 26, 2009. VernissageTV filmed the performance on September 26, 2009.

Models: Tatjana Axt, Eva Gärtner, Francesco Pillino, Sebastian Gottschalk, Luen Wong, Max Coly, Lucy Mullican, Caroline Adam, Sonja Klinge, Maria Romero, Charleen Richter, Hannah Früh, Anna Sartison, Caroine Gerbeckx.

[Review by Grégoire Didier].

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Related Articles:

• Arto Lindsay: The Penny Parade / Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin
• Tadashi Kawamata: Berliner Baumhäuser (Berlin Tree Huts) / HKW Berlin
• Haus der Kulturen der Welt (House of World Cultures) celebrates 20th Birthday

rAndom International is a London-based collective set up in 2002 by Stuart Wood, Flo Ortkrass and Hannes Koch. Their work explores the conflict between reinterpreting the cold nature of digital and the often hands-on approach of analogue. Most of their work is interactive with an intense curiosity applied to experimental processes.

rAndom International have won prestigious design awards such as the iF Desgin Award 2005 and 2006. At Design Miami Basel they presented their installation Audience that has been awarded an honorable mention in the Interactive Art category of the Prix Ars Electronica 2009.

We had a look at their work several times now. At Scope Miami 2006, Flo Ortkrass showed us rAndom International’s PixelRoller, Temporary Graffiti and the Temporary Light Printing Machine, at Design Miami Basel 2009 Hannes Koch talked about their installation Audience. Now, at the exhibition Design High at Louise Blouin Foundation in London we met with Hannes Koch and Flo Ortkrass again, speaking about the piece “Study of a Mirror” and their work in general.

Design High / Louise Blouin Foundation, London. June 24, 2009. Design High runs until August 30, 2009.

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Related Articles:

• Interview with designer Robert Stadler
• Interview with Lonneke Gordijn and Ralph Nauta of design studio DRIFT
• Interview with Joep van Lieshout, Atelier Van Lieshout
• Design High / Louise Blouin Foundation, London

Viennese-born designer Robert Stadler studied design at the Istituto Europeo di Design in Milan, Italy and then at ENSCI / Les Ateliers in Paris. In Paris, he co-founded the Radi Designers group. Since 2000 he has been working solo while simultaneously continuing his activity with the group. He lives and works in Paris and Rio de Janeiro.

Currently Robert Stadler is taking part in the exhibition Design High at Louise Blouin Foundation in London. He presents two works: the living room suite “Tephra Formations” and the dumbbell set “Foreveryoung (Item for Men)”.

“Stadler revels exploring the exhitibion space in order to scramble the usual categories of art and design. He questions the status of the object as work of art or product as well as the boundaries between preciousness and lowliness, elegance and vulgarity, between the serious and the absurd. … Stadler intervenes in very diverse fields, obliterating all hierarchies between free proposals and industrial commissions.” (excerpt from the press release)

In this video, Robert Stadler talks about his pieces on display at the Design High exhibition, his work between the fields of art and design, the pros and cons of free work and commissions, and his sources of inspiration.

Design High / Louise Blouin Foundation, London. June 24, 2009. Design High runs until August 30, 2009.

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Related Articles:

• rAndom International: Study of a Mirror / Interview
• Interview with Lonneke Gordijn and Ralph Nauta of design studio DRIFT
• Interview with Joep van Lieshout, Atelier Van Lieshout
• Design High / Louise Blouin Foundation, London