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    Five standout pieces at the Ron Arad 69 exhibition

    A Brexit-themed chair and a crumpled bin are some of the pieces to feature in an exhibition at Newlands House gallery that showcases 40 years of work by Israeli designer Ron Arad.The exhibition is titled Ron Arad 69, in honour of the designer’s 69th birthday in 2020, and showcases 50 standout pieces from his extensive oeuvre.
    Some of the pieces date back to the 1980s, when Arad established his eponymous studio, while others are from the 90s and 2000s – as well as a select few works that were released as recently as last year.

    “For me, business is always a necessary evil” says Ron Arad

    They are all displayed amongst the grounds and historic rooms of Newlands House, a 700-square-metre gallery in West Sussex which occupies a heritage-listed Georgian townhouse and its adjoining coach house.
    It is headed up by creative director Simon De Pury, who says it was an obvious choice to create a show around Arad’s work.
    “Ron Arad is a giant in his field,” Pury told Dezeen.”He has developed his uniquely personal language; while he has been copied by many, his work remains strong and timeless.”
    The pieces in the exhibition have not been arranged in chronological order, but simply placed where Pury felt they looked best in the gallery.
    “It’s not a retrospective, it’s a sampling of works that I personally love from Ron’s career,” Pury explained.
    “I greatly look forward to seeing the contrast between the 19th-century architecture of the gallery and the resolutely 21st-century feel of Arad’s dazzling and bold works,” he continued.
    “I hope visitors will enjoy experiencing the beauty, elegance and also the sense of humour of his amazing work in the intimate setting of a house that helps the viewer imagine what it would be like to live with it.”
    Read on to get a glimpse of five works that feature in the exhibition:

    Now What, 2020
    More colloquially known as the Brexit Chair, Now What is haphazardly plastered with clippings of newspapers that were released on Friday 31 January 2020 – the day that Britain left the European Union.
    Now What’s rounded seat and Mickey Mouse-shaped backrest riffs off the curvaceous form of Arad’s Big Easy chair, which was designed back in 1988.

    Where Are My Glasses?, 2018
    These ombre-effect coloured vases were originally launched during the 2018 edition of Milan Design Week.
    To create them, Ron Arad asked experts working at Italian glassware brand Venini to blow glass through metal-frame spectacles – the spectacles act almost like a taut belt, which forces the vase to bulge outwards at the sides.

    Photo by Gary Morrisroe
    Blame The Tools, 2013
    Arad’s Blame The Tools sculpture is shaped to resemble a life-sized Fiat 500 car. Crafted from stainless-steel sheets and rods, the gridded sculpture is so heavy that it had to be hoisted by a crane into Newlands House’s front garden.
    “I like to imagine how this car would look if it stayed here and we let nature do its work, eventually you’d have vegetation growing through it,” said Pury.

    Crash Bin, 2006
    Danish retailer Vipp asked Ron Arad to customise one of its bins for a charity auction 15 years ago.
    Instead of making aesthetic changes, the designer crushed the product from the top down, making deep dents in its silver-metal exterior. Arad’s signature appears just above the bin’s foot pedal.

    The Rover Chair, 1981
    Found objects were used to form The Rover chair, which is the first piece of furniture to be designed by Arad.
    The chair’s worn leather seat was taken from a Rover P6 car, while its tubular steel frame is made from Kee Klamps that were once part of a milking stall for farm animals.
    Photography is courtesy of Elizabeth Zeschin unless stated otherwise.
    Ron Arad 69 is at Newlands House, UK, from 19 September 2020 until 7 March 2021, but the gallery is currently closed due to Covid-19. For more architecture and design events, visit Dezeen Events Guide.

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    Five architecture and design events this January from Dezeen Events Guide

    A virtual version of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) plus remote site visits with SO-IL and David Adjaye as part of The World Around summit are among the events listed in Dezeen Events Guide taking place in January.

    Above: A representative of Virgin Hyperloop will discuss autonomous transportation at CES 2021. Top image: The World Around summit will see Ryue Nishizawa present his House in Los Vilos. Image is by Cristobal Palma
    Consumer Electronics Show (CES)11 to 14 January
    The world’s most influential technology fair is taking place entirely in the digital realm this year, opening up its programme of product showcases and more than 80 panel talks and keynotes to a global audience.
    Highlights include a reflection on the first year of 5G with American telco giant AT&T, Virgin Hyperloop’s take on the future of autonomous transportation and a discussion about privacy and trust with representatives of Amazon, Google and Twitter.
    This regularly scheduled programming is accompanied by a host of sessions about the ongoing pandemic, including a discussion with British pop star Dua Lipa about how immersive, digital experiences are allowing her to stay connected to her fans while music venues are closed.
    In/Visible Talks14 January
    In/Visible Talks is a design conference all about the creative process, which means that after a day’s worth of talks and discussions the event will culminate in practical workshops about everything from blind contour drawing to the design of exhibition layouts.
    For its fourth-ever and first virtual edition, the event is focusing on how design can be a medium for societal change by exploring what true diversity in the industry would mean, how graphic design can facilitate better representation and the best ways for creatives to collaborate with nonprofits.

    Norwegian designers point the way towards a circular economy

    DesignTO22 to 31 January
    Canada’s largest annual design festival will spotlight the work of more than 800 local artists and makers, including a showcase of furniture made from native timber and an archive of modernist Canadian graphic design.
    For its 11th edition, DesignTO is going “distanced and digital”, with window displays allowing those in Toronto to experience the event safely and in-person while a virtual programme will ensure that everyone else doesn’t have to miss out.
    Oslo Design Fair27 to 29 January
    Set inside the Norges Varemesse congress centre in Lillestrøm, the Oslo Design Fair has expanded beyond the standard categories of furniture, lighting and interiors.
    Under one roof and across four different exhibitions halls, it will bring together everything from Norwegian jewellery and fashion designers to gardening brands, illustrators, candlemakers and other craftsmen.

    David Adjaye will give a remote tour of his Winter Park Public Library complex in Florida

    The World Around30 January
    Now in its second year, The World Around forum has recruited some of the most innovative architects working today to discuss their latest projects via on-site presentations and guided tours.
    These are set to be broadcast on Dezeen from 14 international cities and will include Ryue Nishizawa presenting his House in Los Vilos, SO-IL showcasing recent work in Shanghai and New York and David Adjaye giving a remote tour of his Winter Park Public Library complex, which is under construction in Florida.
    Other speakers will include Francis Kéré and Counterspace founder Sumayya Vally, while Liam Young will present his latest short film in collaboration with the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV).
    The World Around aims to explore how architecture can tackle some of the most pressing issues of our time, from indigenous rights and racial justice to the environment. Earlier this year, the organisation held a symposium to mark Earth Day at Dezeen’s Virtual Design Festival, featuring talks, interviews and short films from the vanguard of ecological design.
    About Dezeen Events Guide
    Dezeen Events Guide is our guide to the best architecture and design events taking place across the world each year.
    The guide is updated weekly and includes virtual events, conferences, trade fairs, major exhibitions and design weeks, as well as up-to-date information about what events have been cancelled or postponed due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
    Inclusion in the guide is free for basic listings, with events selected at Dezeen’s discretion. Organisers can get enhanced or premium listings for their events, including images, additional text and links, by paying a modest fee.
    In addition, events can ensure inclusion by partnering with Dezeen. For more details on inclusion in Dezeen Events Guide and media partnerships with Dezeen, email eventsguide@dezeen.com.

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    David Chipperfield, Yinka Ilori and Ilse Crawford recognised in Queen's New Year Honours list

    Architect David Chipperfield has been given one of the highest awards available to a British citizen while designers including Yinka Ilori, Ilse Crawford and 6a Architects have received honours in the 2021 New Year Honours list.Chipperfield was added to the elite Order of the Companions of Honour in the annual list of awards given for achievements by British citizens.
    Interior designer Crawford has been awarded a CBE, 6a Architects co-founders Thomas Emerson and Stephanie Macdonald OBEs and London designer Ilori an MBE.

    David Chipperfield has designed numerous cultural buildings including the renovation of the Neues Museum. photo is by Joerg von Buchhausen

    British architect Chipperfield joins Richard Rogers in the order Order of the Companions of Honour, which is limited to 65 members and is awarded “for having a major contribution to the arts, science, medicine, or government lasting over a long period of time”.
    RIBA Gold Medal-winner Chipperfield established his studio David Chipperfield Architects in 1985.
    He has designed numerous significant cultural buildings in the UK including the River and Rowing Museum in Henley-on-Thames and Hepworth Wakefield in Wakefield, which were both shortlisted for the Stirling Prize, as well as the Turner Contemporary in Margate.

    Chipperfield designed the Hepworth Wakefield in Yorkshire. Photo is by Iwan Baan
    Chipperfield, who has an office in Berlin, also completed numerous cultural buildings in Germany including the Museum of Modern Literature in Marbach, Germany, which won the RIBA Stirling Prize in 2007.

    “I feel like a bit of a fake” says David Chipperfield in Dezeen’s latest podcast

    A further four buildings designed by the studio in the country have been shortlisted for the Stirling Prize with the prestigious renovation of the Neues Museum in central Berlin being nominated in 2010. The building won the EU Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award in 2011.

    Yinka Ilori was made an MBE
    Alongside Chipperfield, several other architects and designers were recognised on the New Year Honours list.
    Rising star Ilori has been made a Member of the British Empire (MBE) for his services to design. Known for his colourful style, the designer began making furniture and has more recently creating larger installations including a summer pavilion in Dulwich and the renovating an underpass in Battersea.

    Yinka Ilori designed the Colour Palace in Dulwich with architecture studio Pricegore
    Writing on Instagram after receiving the award, Illori revealed that he almost gave up being a designer five years ago.
    “In 2015 there were sometimes thoughts of giving up designing due to the frustration and feeling people didn’t understand the designer I wanted to be,” he wrote.
    “The driving force behind me to continue and push through was always the desire to make my parents proud,” he continued. “They had given up so much of their own lives to make sure me and my siblings had the best in life
    “No matter what situation you are in it is never permanent. Keep pushing because if a young kid like me from Islington can do it so can you.”
    This year, Ilori won the Design Museum’s Emerging Design Medal, designed a colourful skatepark in France and created a message of hope in support of the UK’s National Health Service.

    Ilse Crawford has been awarded a CBE
    British interior designer Crawford has been made a Commander of the British Empire (CBE). Crawford, who was made a Member of the British Empire in the 2014 New Year Honours list, runs multidisciplinary design studio Studioilse and was the founder of the Man and Wellbeing department at Design Academy Eindhoven.
    She was recently profiled in Netflix’s Abstract: The Art of Design series and spoke to Dezeen during Virtual Design Festival.

    6a Architects designed the MK Gallery
    Also honoured on the list were 6a Architects co-founders Thomas Emerson and Stephanie Macdonald, who both were given the Order of the British Empire.
    Emerson and Macdonald founded 6a Architects, which is best-known for designing cultural buildings in the UK, in 2001. The studio recently extended the MK Gallery in Milton Keynes and previously renovated the Raven Row contemporary art gallery in east London and expanded the South London Gallery.
    Its design for a photography studio for Juergen Teller was shortlisted for the Stirling Prize 2017.
    The Queen’s New Year Honours are awarded each year in December. Together with the Birthday Honours given out on the Queen’s birthday in June they make up part of the British honours system.
    In last year’s New Year Honour list, architect Jamie Fobert and graphic designer Peter Saville received CBEs, while designer Sadie Morgan received an OBE.

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    V&A curator picks five highlights from Bags: Inside Out exhibition

    The 19th-century equivalent of an activist’s slogan tote and a portmanteau made from repurposed fire hoses feature in this roundup of V&A curator Lucia Savi’s favourite pieces from the Bags: Inside Out exhibition.On show at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum until September of next year, the exhibition traces the evolution of bags from the 16th century to the present day.
    Over three distinct sections and nearly 300 exhibits, it explores the different functions that these carriers can serve, the ways they can communicate status and identity as well as the craftsmanship that goes into their making.
    Along the way, designs by luxury fashion houses rub shoulders with personal items belonging to historical figures such as Winston Churchill and artefacts sourced everywhere from Pakistan to Burma.

    “If you think about it, bags are everywhere. Men, women, children – everybody wears them and uses them on an everyday basis,” Savi told Dezeen.
    “We can’t even pinpoint when the first bag in history was made or used because it’s such a functional object that was useful for so many reasons – to travel from A to B, to transport personal belongings.”
    “But they can also be status symbols and carry meaning or memories. In the fashion business today, bags are often the biggest revenue drivers,” she continued. “The exhibition sets out to investigate what makes this object so special, so coveted and so multi-layered.”
    According to Savi, a key factor in this is the fact that bags allow their wearer to present themselves to the world while simultaneously revealing who they really are on the inside.

    Freitag’s Sweat-Yourself-Shop is a tiny factory for making bags

    “I think this is at the core of what bags are – they’re functional, they have meaning but they’re very private. We carry our most personal belongings in our bags and not everybody wants to open theirs and show off the contents,” she said.
    “At the same time, we carry them physically on the body, we’re commuting, were travelling. So there are these dichotomies between inside and outside, private and public.”
    This is evidenced by the millions of view racked up by “What’s in my bag” videos on YouTube and translated into the design of the exhibition itself, which is courtesy of London architecture practice Studio Mutt.

    V&A East “will speak to the local population” says Gus Casely-Hayford

    The ground floor of the V&A’s Gallery 40 is transformed to resemble the inside of a bag, with fabric partitions acting like the lining and dividing the space into small, intimate “pockets”. Here, the exhibits are displayed largely on their own, cracked open to reveal their vulnerable insides, while on the upstairs mezzanine the bags are showcased on mannequins, to suggest their public, outward-facing role.
    Bags: Inside Out opened its door earlier this month after being delayed twice due to coronavirus lockdowns and only a few days before Tier 3 restrictions were once again imposed on London.
    As a result, the museum is currently closed, so we have enlisted Savi to share her personal highlights from the show below:

    Jane Birkin’s Birkin bag by Hermès, 1984
    “This is the very first Birkin bag that was ever made. The story goes that Jane Birkin was on a plane from Paris to London in the 80s and was complaining to the man next to her that she couldn’t find a leather bag she liked. It turns out she was talking to the CEO of Hermès, so they start drawing some ideas on one of those paper [sickness] bags.
    “Now, the Birkin is the most recognised and coveted handbag of our time. It’s not easy to get hold of one, because of the price but also because you can’t just walk into a shop and buy one. They fetch crazy prices at auctions and a report found that the value of a Birkin is actually more stable and better-performing than gold.
    “The primary function of a bag throughout history was to carry valuables and in this case, the bag became a valuable object in itself. This is, of course, because of the craftsmanship and the quality – it takes many hours for a Birkin to be made and it’s all done by one artisan. But it’s also because of the exclusivity and the celebrity association, which together created the phenomenon of ‘it-bags’.”

    Anti-slavery workbag by Samuel Lines and the Female Society for Birmingham, 1828
    “This bag was made by women from the Female Society for Birmingham as part of their campaign to abolish slavery in the British Empire. Printed on the bag is a powerful image of an enslaved woman who is breastfeeding while a man is telling her to go back to work.
    “This piece was showcased very much on the body, for everybody to see what these women were advocating for. It was used to carry pamphlets and campaign materials, which they sold alongside the bags to raise money. But also, because it’s a work bag, it was used to carry tools and little items that were used for sewing, so there’s really a double function there.
    “What’s interesting about this bag is that we just have the silk part but we don’t have the metal frame and the handles. So it really shows you how these bags were made by this group of women. Not many of them have survived but they exemplify an important function of bags, both historically and today, as a way of showcasing our beliefs.”

    Daln by Kazuyo Sejima for Prada, 2019
    “Bags offer fertile soil for experimenting with new ideas and for collaborations between designers, artists and more recently architects. They’re quite sculptural objects with a large surface area, so they’re almost like a blank canvas.
    “This collaboration is part of a collection called Prada Invites, where the brand recruited four female architects to reinvent its iconic nylon bag. Prada is a historic fashion house that started in 1913 as a leather luggage maker. But when Miuccia Prada took the helm of the company in the 80s, she introduced this very new material that you normally wouldn’t associate with luxury and redefined it.”
    “Kazuyo Sejima’s interpretation of the bag really gives the freedom to the wearer to reinvent the bag every time – you can un-zip some parts, make it longer or shorter. And you can add all these colourful, detachable pouches and pockets with soft shapes that contrast with the black, square body of the bag.”

    Weekend bag by Elvis and Kresse, 2019
    “More and more, we’re seeing brands try to work with materials that are not exploiting the natural world and not creating too much waste. But this brand, Elvis and Kresse, has been doing it for years and decades.
    “They saw that fire hoses, once they reached the end of their life, were just ending up in landfill. So they started to produce accessories out of them, using the material almost as if it was leather and fabricating the bags using similar machinery.
    “First, the hose gets washed and then it’s cut in half. It has two surfaces, a smooth and a dimpled one, and they combine these to create the designs. The lining is made out of parachute silk or old auction banners and everything from the packaging to the labels is made from rescued materials.”

    Iside Toothpaste bag by Bethan Laura Wood for Valextra, 2018
    “Normally, Valextra’s bags are quite severe. They’re very simple, very structured bags, but with the intervention of British designer Bethan Laura Wood on the handles and the addition of this sinuous, toothpaste-like hardware, the bag almost becomes a completely different object.
    “She was inspired by the linework of [Scottish artist] Eduardo Paolozzi and the piping along the side of the Valextra bag, where the leathers is inked to finish the seams. And I really enjoyed the idea of playing with that line and the fact that she intervenes on the hardware but not on the leather, which is a very interesting way of thinking about bags.
    “Working with a designer who normally maybe doesn’t work on leather or hardware and has never worked on bags, I think it does bring a completely different perspective. It challenges the makers and it creates almost like wearable pieces of art.”
    Bags: Inside Out is on show at the V&A in London until 12 September 2021. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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    Nook Pod is a gabled workspace

    Dezeen Showroom: Nook has created a family of gabled private working pods that respond to changes in office environments after the coronavirus pandemic.The Nook Pod has a pitched frame enclosing chairs and benches for working.
    It comes in three arrangements including a Huddle Pod for two people, with a glass partition between them, an Open Shelter for one person, or as A Solo Booth, which involves splitting the structure in two.
    The brand envisions the pods helping companies provide extra space as people return to work.

    Nook Pods can create private workspaces within offices

    “Social distancing places pressure on the capacity of any space,” said Nook.
    “As the flow of employees gradually increases, businesses will be challenged to provide spaces that work both in terms of social distancing and everyday productivity.”

    Nook believes the pods are suitable for socially distant working
    The gabled structures are built on lockable wheels so they can be moved around easily. The modules can also be attached together in a variety of arrangements.
    “The fact that Nooks are built on lockable wheels becomes a very valuable proposition,” added the brand. “Unused and unloved corners of an office can be transformed into meeting spaces and breakout areas simply by wheeling a Nook into position.”

    Three different arrangements – Huddle Pod, Open Shelter and Solo Booth – suit different needs
    Nook Pods have a hard exterior and a textile interior for added comfort. Additional details can include added backdrops and lighting control.
    In addition to offices, Nook said the pods can be used for a variety of other spaces like in hospitals to provide doctors and nurses with a place to relax. They were also recently installed in the stadium of American football team the Las Vegas Raiders.
    “These Sensory Nooks are equipped with soothing lighting and tactile surfaces to provide neurodiverse fans with a place to relax and recharge if the atmosphere of the stadium ever becomes too much,” said the brand.
    Product: Nook PodBrand: Nook PodContact: hello@nookpod.com
    About Dezeen Showroom: Dezeen Showroom offers an affordable space for brands to launch new products and showcase their designers and projects to Dezeen’s huge global audience. For more details email showroom@dezeen.com.

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    Pablo Chiereghin violently destroys and rebuilds furniture for Riot Design exhibition

    Italian visual artist Pablo Chiereghin has created a series of furniture pieces from the remains of items he destroyed “using a riot aesthetic” for an exhibition at Vienna’s Kunstforum.Named Riot Design, the exhibition consists of a series of reconstructed pieces of furniture and everyday items displayed alongside videos showing Chiereghin destroying the original items.
    “Riot Design is a process through consumerism, violence appeal, design and the market,” explained Chiereghin.
    “Un-personal everyday objects are destroyed and transformed using a riot aesthetic and then brought back to functionality through an invasive restoration,” he told Dezeen.

    The Riot Design exhibition is at Vienna’s Kunstforum.

    Each of the items, chosen for their normality, was destroyed on-site within the gallery, which is in the former vault of the bank that houses the Kunstforum.
    They were then reassembled using construction materials that are usually hidden within items to draw attention to the rebuilding.

    Riot Design consists of destroyed and rebuilt furniture
    “The act of destruction is part of the artwork, violence models and deconstructs the object, leaving left-over pieces which are then to be recomposed in a unique object,” Chiereghin said.
    “The exhibition is conceived as a whole installation which combines objects and videos, changing rhythm through rough sounds and flirty objects, between construction materials and pink moulded plastic.”

    The items were chosen for their normality
    Chiereghin destroyed the items while wearing a helmet or balaclava to make a visual connection to the act of rioting.
    “The combination of the objects and the riot tools was influenced by the destruction result I wanted to obtain and by visual references to the history of riots,” said Chiereghin.
    “The idea of applying violence to things is common, either in everyday life or in the art,” he continued. “Nevertheless, I was for a long time fascinated by the power of exercising violence and the appeal that violence has on human beings.”

    The furniture was destroyed within the exhibition space
    “With the passing of the time I realised I wanted to excerpt the idea of riot and its violence from a context and use it as a cultural, ready-made tool of design,” continued Chiereghin.
    “Destruction activates multilayer connections: damage, hedonistic liberation, loss of value and reaction against status quo.”

    Videos show the items being destroyed
    The exhibition was created after Chiereghin watched lots of footage of riots, including those at the WTO in Seattle in 1999 and the Genova G8 Summit in 2001. The artist also focused on anti-austerity riots in Greece between 2010-2015, along with the recent riots in Hong Kong and USA.

    “As a predominantly white profession, we recognise that we have contributed to this pain”

    He accepts that the subject matter and the title of the exhibition may prove controversial, but hopes that it challenges visitors to ask questions.

    Pablo Chiereghin violently destroyed the pieces
    “If somebody finds it inappropriate, contradictory or speculative they are right,” he said.
    “The project offers a multilayer approach, which goes from entertainment to speculative design and consumerism critics,” he continued.
    “Visitors have possibilities to stay on the level they want but I think I would be happy if some visitors go home with questions.”
    Riot Design is on at the Kunstforumin in Vienna from 15 October to 22 November 2020. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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    Ten architecture and design events this November and December from Dezeen Events Guide

    Design Shanghai, Design Miami and Dubai Design Week are among the architecture and design events listed in Dezeen Events Guide taking place this winter, alongside a host of virtual programmes including an Archigram symposium and the Dezeen Awards ceremonies.Other events taking place in November and December include an Enzo Mari exhibition in Milan curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist, the Quito Pan-American Architecture Biennial in Ecuador, Barcelona Design Week and Contemporary Istanbul.

    Above: the iconic illustration of the coronavirus virion is one of the designs on show at the Beazley Designs of the Year exhibition. Top: Walking illustration by Drawing Architecture Studio for the M+ museum’s Archigram Cities symposium
    Beazley Designs of the Year exhibition21 October 2020 to 28 March 2021
    The nominees for the 2020 Designs of the Year awards are currently on show at the London Design Museum until March of next year, allowing visitors to reflect on the state of the world in the months leading up to the coronavirus pandemic.
    Exhibits are arranged in chronological order, starting with Jack and Huei’s proposal for naming Bleached Coral as colour of the year at the start of 2019 and leading all the way up until January of this year, when the CDC released its 3D rendering of the novel coronavirus.
    About Time: Fashion and Duration exhibition29 October 2020 to 7 February 2021
    In celebration of the 150th anniversary of New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, the annual exhibition put on by its Costume Institute is this year sharing a retrospective of seminal fashion pieces from 1870 until the present day.
    The show, which is usually launched with the Met Gala in May, highlights the cyclical nature of fashion by mixing up styles from throughout the decades in two clock-like gallery spaces created by set designer Es Devlin.
    M+ Matters: Archigram Cities Online Symposium4 to 21 November
    In a virtual event organised by Hong Kong’s M+ museum, scholars and architects will come together to reconsider the work of British architecture collective Archigram and its enduring influence on modern architectural discourse.
    Over a series of three Zoom presentations, speakers will include architects Liam Young and Mark Wigley as well as Atelier Bow-Wow’s Tsukamoto Yoshiharu.
    Dubai Design Week9 to 14 November
    Dubai is one of the few design weeks to take place not just virtually by also in real life this year, spanning more than 200 events across the second week of November focused on how we can reimagine the way we live in light of the pandemic.
    This includes the Global Grad Show, exhibiting projects by students from around the world, and the trade fair Downtown Design alongside the city’s inaugural d3 Architecture Festival.
    Dezeen Awards ceremonies23 to 25 November
    The winners of this year’s Dezeen Awards will be announced via a three hour-long livestreams, hosted by Saatchi Gallery’s poet in residence LionHeart.
    Set on three consecutive days, each ceremony will be dedicated to a different category from architecture to interiors and design, with their respective key judges Norman Foster, Michelle Ogundehin and Paola Antonelli each sharing an address reflecting on this year’s entries.

    Combo chair by Frank Chou, one of the designers exhibiting at Design Shanghai

    Design Shanghai26 to 29 November
    Postponed from its original date in March, China’s preeminent design fair Design Shanghai will now take place at the end of November, highlighting local designers and brands alongside exhibitors from 30 other countries.
    The highly-anticipated Norwegian Presence showcase, which is normally exhibited at Salone del Mobile, will be presented as part of the Chinese trade fair instead, alongside a speaker programme featuring Ini Archibong, Ross Lovegrove and Hong Kong designer André Fu.
    Design Miami28 November to 6 December
    For its 16th edition, the Design Miami fair will supplement its regular programme with a new curated exhibition series called Podium, in which pieces of collectable design and craft will be not just on display but also for sale.
    In the wake of a tumultuous year in US history and the divisive 2020 election, the showcase will highlight pieces that question what it means to be American, from a 19th-century Navajo tribe textile to ceramics by Puerto Rican “ghetto potter” Roberto Lugo.
    World Architecture Festival30 November to 4 December
    The WAF is going virtual this year, with a series of talks, panel discussions and special prize ceremonies being live-streamed for free.
    Speakers including UNStudio’s Ben Van Berkel, Archigram founder Peter Cook and Jeanne Gang of Chicago firm Studio Gang will discuss everything from recent technical innovations to the ever-present topic of how we can learn to live with pandemics.
    Contemporary Istanbul16 to 20 December
    Turkey’s leading contemporary art fair will this year offer both virtual and physical events, including its recurring Plugin exhibition, which this year is focusing on human-machine communication and artificial intelligence.
    The event’s online version will act as a platform for visitors to interact with the fair in real-time, during its actual opening hours.
    National Gallery of Victoria Triennial19 December 2020 to 18 April 2021
    The second triennial from Melbourne’s NGV will showcase projects from around the globe that blur the line between art, design, architecture, science and technology.
    More than 80 artists and designers will take part in this year’s edition, including up-and-coming talent alongside stalwarts such as Kengo Kuma, Faye Toogood, Jeff Koons and Patricia Urquiola.

    Patricia Urquiola presents an installation titled Recycled Woollen Island at NGV Triennial 2020
    About Dezeen Events Guide
    Dezeen Events Guide is our guide to the best architecture and design events taking place across the world each year.
    The guide is updated weekly and includes virtual events, conferences, trade fairs, major exhibitions and design weeks, as well as up-to-date information about what events have been cancelled or postponed due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
    Inclusion in the guide is free for basic listings, with events selected at Dezeen’s discretion. Organisers can get enhanced or premium listings for their events, including images, additional text and links, by paying a modest fee.
    In addition, events can ensure inclusion by partnering with Dezeen. For more details on inclusion in Dezeen Events Guide and media partnerships with Dezeen, email eventsguide@dezeen.com.

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  • About Time: Fashion and Duration exhibition at The Met celebrates 150 years of fashion

    Set designer Es Devlin has created two clock-like gallery spaces for the latest fashion exhibition at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, which compares design over 150 years.The Met’s Costume Institute opens About Time: Fashion and Duration at the museum’s Fifth Avenue location on 29 October –  the original planned opening in May 2020 was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
    Featured fashion dates back 150 years to 1870 to coincide with The Met’s 150th anniversary. Rather than presenting designs chronologically, the exhibition mixes up the timeline in order to compare the cyclical nature of fashion across the years.

    Above image: the all-bacl Clock One gallery space. Top image: the mirrored Clock Two gallery space

    “About Time: Fashion and Duration considers the ephemeral nature of fashion, employing flashbacks and fast-forwards to reveal how it can be both linear and cyclical,” said The Met director Max Hollein.
    “The result is a show that presents a nuanced continuum of fashion over the museum’s 150-year history.”
    Devlin, who has created stage sets for musicians The Weekend and Katy Perry, worked with The Met’s Design Department to create a time-travelling-themed exhibition.

    White markings or light divide galleries into 60 “minutes”
    It is located in two galleries in the museum’s Iris and B Gerald Cantor Exhibition Hall that are in a circular formation like a clock. Called Clock One and Clock Two, they have different material finishes. The former is nearly all black, and the latter is covered in mirrors.
    White markings on the floor or thin white lights punctuate both spaces, resembling the marks on a clock face.
    These marks split the galleries into 60 segments or “minutes”. Each minute showcases two garments – one that follows time chronologically and another from a different time period to showcase similarities or differences in form.

    One of the spaces is covered in mirrors
    Examples include an 1870s black silk faille princess-line dress paired with a 1990s Alexander McQueen skirt and a mid-1890s silk satin dress with puffed sleeves contrasted by 2004 Comme des Garçons ensemble.
    “Fashion is indelibly connected to time,” said Andrew Bolton, the Wendy Yu curator in charge of The Costume Institute.
    “It not only reflects and represents the spirit of the times, but it also changes and develops with the times, serving as an especially sensitive and accurate timepiece.”

    It is located in two galleries in the museum’s Iris and B Gerald Cantor Exhibition Hall
    There are 125 fashions in the exhibition with a number sourced from The Costume Insitute’s collection. It includes work from well-known contemporary and historic designers and brands like Virgil Abloh, Azzedine Alaïa, Jonathan Anderson, Iris van Herpen, Karl Lagerfeld and Vivienne Westwood.
    First announced last year, The Met’s About Time exhibition is based on French 20th-century philosopher Henri Bergson’s idea of time as la durée, or duration – something which can be measured through images but never perceived as a whole.

    The Met celebrates “resurgence of camp” in new exhibition Camp: Notes on Fashion

    The Met closed its main building on Fifth Avenue, as well as its Met Breuer and Met Cloisters locations, in early March in response to the emergence of outbreaks of coronavirus in New York City.
    In lieu of the spring opening, the museum created a virtual version of About Time: Fashion and Duration on Youtube.

    Garments include this spring/summer 2020 haute couture by Viktor + Rolf
    The annual Costume Institute Benefit, also known as the Met Gala, was due to take place in May 2020 to coincide with the original opening of the exhibition. It was also cancelled due to the pandemic.
    The Met’s Costume Institute organises a spring exhibition every year. Last year’s exhibition Camp: Notes on Fashion celebrated the “resurgence of camp”, while the 2018 showcase Heavenly Bodies was themed on religion.
    Others have included a retrospective of Comme des Garcons founder Rei Kawakubo, a study of handcraft and machine production and an exploration of China.

    About Time will run from 29 October 2020 to 7 February 2021. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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