Claes Oldenburg – DesignApplause

chicago architecture biennial. 20 > 26 december 2015.

Dec 19, 2015

[ 20 > 26 december calendar ] The Chicago Architecture Biennial is free and open to the general public at the Chicago Cultural Center and sites across the city. The event is supported by the City of Chicago and the Graham Foundation, with additional support from the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, and the Chicago Park District. All funding for the event is privately raised, with significant investments from BP and SC Johnson.

‘chicago: how do you see?’ by norman kelley created an exciting feature on the windows of the chicago culture centre. photography: steve hall, copyright hedrich blessing. courtesy chicago architecture biennial

marshmellow sofa | george nelson | herman miller / 1956

[ pop art design ] an exhibition organized by the vitra design museum, one of the preeminent furniture and design museums in the world, pairs iconic design objects with artworks from this celebrated era to show the cross-pollination between these creative worlds. this glimpse of art, chairs, sofas, lamps, and even architecture during the culturally ebullient 1960s and 1970s. artists such as andy warhol, roy lichtenstein, claes oldenburg and mel ramos alongside designers such as charles eames, george nelson, ettore sottsass, achille castiglioni, and robert venturi.

event> pop art design
venue> museum of contemporary | 220 east chicago avenue
dates> 19 december 2015 > 27 march 2016

For a complete list of exhibitions, public programs, supporters, media partners and program partners, visit [ Chicago Architecture Biennial ] which launched 3 October 2015, and will run through 3 January 3 2016. @chicagobiennial @GrahamFound @ChiCulturCenter

carsten höller and álvaro siza at vitra.

Jun 25, 2014

above> tower slide | carsten höller | 2013

The Vitra Campus recently launched two new projects for their campus; The Álvaro-Siza-Promenade and the Vitra Slide Tower by Carsten Höller.

The Vitra Slide Tower by Carsten Höller adds a new structure to the Vitra Campus in Weil am Rhein. With its prominent clock at the top, it is not a building in the classical sense but a viewing tower with a slide – and a work of art that enables a new and unique experience of self and art. The Vitra Slide Tower is 30.7-metre-high. The final solution is noticeably more pragmatic looking than Höller’s body of work and those of other buildings and sculpture on the campus.

‘a slide is a sculptural work with a pragmatic aspect, a sculpture that you can travel inside. however, it would be a mistake to think that you have to use the slide to make sense of it. looking at the work from the outside is a different but equally valid experience, just as one might contemplate the endless column by constantin brancusi from 1938. from an architectural and practical perspective, the slides are one of the building’s means of transporting people, equivalent to the escalators, elevators or stairs. slides deliver people quickly, safely and elegantly to their destinations, they’re inexpensive to construct and energy-efficient. they’re also a device for experiencing an emotional state that is a unique condition somewhere between delight and madness. it was described in the fifties by the french writer roger caillois as ‘a kind of voluptuous panic upon an otherwise lucid mind’.’ – carsten höller

[ the ongoing development of the vitra campus ] The construction of the Vitra Slide Tower is yet another step in the thirty-year development of the Vitra Campus. The production premises were first opened up to the public with the 1984 sculpture Balancing Tools by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen. Next came the Vitra Design Museum by Frank Gehry (1989), the Conference Pavilion by Tadao Ando (1993) and the VitraHaus by Herzog & de Meuron (2010), the Prima sculpture by her Fire House (2013). The Vitra Slide Tower and the new Álvaro-Siza-Promenade further open up the grounds to the public and offer visitors a new experience. At the same time, the tower reinforces the topographical reorientation of the Campus.

1 Factory Buildings, Nicholas Grimshaw, 1981; 2 Balancing Tools Claes Oldenburg – Coosje van Bruggen, 1984; 3 Factory Buildings Nicholas Grimshaw, 1986; 4 Gate, Frank Gehry, 1989; 5 Factory Building, Frank Gehry, 1989; 6 Vitra Design Museum, Frank Gehry, 1989; 7 Conference Pavilion by Tadao Ando, 1993; 8 Fire Station, 1993, Prima, 2013 by Zaha Hadid; 9 Factory Building, Alvaro Siza, 1994; 10 Dome, Richard Fuller. 1978-2000; 11 Petrol Station, Jean Prouvé, 1953-2003; 12 Bus Stop, Jasper Morrison, 2006; 13 VitraHaus, Herzog – de Meuron, 2010; 14 Factory Building, SANAA, 2010; 15 Tower Slide, Carsten Höller, 2014; 15 Álvaro Siza Promenade, Álvero Siza, 2014.

a resting area along the promenade

The new Promenade by Alvaro Siza extends and opens up the concept of “A day at Vitra” with a pilgrimage pathway that now directly connects Zaha Hadid’s Fire Station to Herzog & de Meuron’s Vitra Haus building and entrance.The new pathway acts similar to a pilgrimage route with multiple stations, settings and episodes along the way.

The Portuguese architect was a logical choice for the unique walkway as he completed the brick-clad production hall in 1994 and devised the layout of the adjacent parking areas. It’s yet another step in the thirty-year development of the Vitra Campus where visitor’s are invited to tour the museums, flagship store and buildings completed by internationally recognized architects.

Artist urs fischer on objects.

Apr 29, 2012

click > enlarge

Even though last week our focus was on Milan, there are, in fact, other things happening in Italy. In Venice Urs Fischer’s new exhibition “Madame Fisscher” opened at Palazzo Grassi. This show, like his others, is all about objects. Here’s what he had to say about that:

“Everybody likes objects; everybody likes different objects. It comes down to what objects you want to put in your art. [Jeff] Koons and [Claes] Oldenburg both seem to have their agendas with their objects. So do I, I guess. I like them all: high, low, used, new, whichever works. I don’t know if the Lamp/Bear has anything more to do with Koons or Oldenburg than all three of us and everyone else have to do with [Marcel] Duchamp’s liberation of the real thing. Before him, it seems objects appeared in, or maybe as, still-lives. Duchamp’s the guy, the legend, who liberated objects from being second-class citizens. Even if his greatness lies in our imagination and how he built himself to make us imagine his work as we imagine it. His objects are often not very satisfying to spend time with outside of the fictions he created for them.”

[ madame fisscher: 15 april > 15 july ]

about perrin drumm

OLIN does lenfest plaza. Pennsylvania academy of the fine arts.

Dec 13, 2011

paint torch by claes oldenburg | click > enlarge

David A. Rubin, OLIN partner and recent Rome Prize recipient, has designed Lenfest Plaza for the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. The plaza was created by closing a 220’ length of Cherry Street, from Broad to Carlisle, close to the Philadelphia City Hall. In doing so, a true campus was made for the Academy, linking the newly refurbished Hamilton Building with the historic Furness-Hewitt Building.

Rubin’s design includes a carpet of pavers comprised of a random pattern of precast concrete with colors inspired by the Furness-Hewitt Building’s handsome Cherry Street façade running the length of the plaza. In addition, a long over-sized curvilinear bench comprised of three parts is built from sustainably harvested black locust. The re-curving form is like a three-dimensional brush stroke running the length of the plaza, connecting Paint Torch, a 51-foot tall sculpture by Claes Oldenburg, to an elliptically shaped temporary sculpture platform. With LED lighting under the front edge of the bench, a path of light sweeps through the plaza at nighttime.

The passive SEPTA (Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority) Broad Street subway line vents that run under Cherry Street were capped with a stage made of sustainably-harvested black locust to allow for bands to perform, for people to speak from or to sit upon. The resolution of this infrastructural challenge was founded on OLIN’s fundamental belief that a great public space serves everyone equally—in this case, a variety of seating options, opportunities to see and be seen, and flexible program space are key to the success and population of a great civic space.

The curvilinear bench, the temporary sculpture platform, a new café on the façade of the Hamilton Building, located opposite the stage are all part of the plaza’s composition.

[ about olin ]
OLIN is a landscape architecture, urban design and planning studio dedicated to creating timeless spaces that promote social interaction and enhance life. Projects include Bryant Park and Battery Park City in New York, The J. Paul Getty Center in Los Angeles and The National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C. OLIN’s team of landscape architects, building architects, planners, ecological engineers and support staff includes 11 partners: Laurie Olin, Dennis McGlade, Lucinda Sanders, Susan Weiler, David Rubin, Robert Bedell, Richard Newton, Skip Graffam, Chris Hanley, Hallie Boyce and Steve Benz. OLIN has studios in Philadelphia and Los Angeles. [ OLIN ]