zoe ryan – DesignApplause

in a cloud, in a wall, in a chair: six modernists in mexico at midcentury.

Sep 6, 2019

above > Butaque Chair / clara porset / 1950s

the work of clara porset, lola álvarez bravo, anni albers, ruth asawa, cynthia sargent, and sheila hicks has never been shown together before. while some of these artists and designers knew one another and collaborated together, they are from different generations, and their individual work encompasses a range of media varying from furniture and interior design to sculpture, textiles, photography, and prints. they all, however, share one defining aspect: mexico, a country in which they all lived or worked between the 1940s and 1970s. during this period they all realized projects that breached disciplinary boundaries and national divides

this exhibition is the first to explore mexico’s impact on these visionary artists and designers. it takes its title from a quote by clara porset, a political exile from cuba who became one of mexico’s most prominent modern furniture designers. influenced by bauhaus ideas, she believed that design could reshape cities, elevate the quality of life, and solve large-scale social problems. this approach informed her 1952 exhibition art in daily life, in whose catalogue she wrote, “there is design in everything … in a cloud, in a wall, in a chair, in the sea, in the sand, in a pot,” encouraging us to look at both the natural and machine world for inspiration and ideas.

curated by zoë ryan, chair and curator of architecture and design, the art institute of chicago

knoll hosting florence knoll women in design dialogues. neocon 2019.

Jun 11, 2019

the florence knoll women in design dialogues explore florence knoll’s pioneering approach to “total design” in the context of today’s design, artistic and workplace environments.

the events will be streamed live [ on this page ]

monday, 10 june

12:00pm ct – channeling total design
listen to dorothy cosonas, knolltextiles creative director, and maria cornejo, designer, describe their “total design” perspectives as zoe ryan, john h. bryan chair and curator of architecture and design, art institute of chicago, asks how today’s landscape impacts their approach.

2:00pm ct – from yarn bombing to total design of place
sit down with debbie millman, educator and design matterspodcast host, and magda sayeg, artist, as the two discuss magda’s work and how it relates to designing and artmaking for an entire space as a means to shift our perceptions of our surroundings.

tuesday, 11 june

12:00pm ct – intersection: digital distraction / digital workplace
join a discussion among verda alexander, co-founder, o+a; patrick larvie, google/rews, workplace user experience; and tracy wymer, workplace strategy, knoll on designing in today’s digital world. heidi mitchell, design journalist, moderates.

2:00pm ct – anew: 10 years comes full circle, by design
learn about sustainability as part of the facilities and design process in response to today’s environmental challenges with rose tourje, founder, anew; rumi walsh, manager, real estate facilities and administrations for mazda; and margaret dilorenzo, project manager, retail team, cbre for bank of america.

knoll hosting florence knoll women in design dialogues. neocon 2019.

Jun 10, 2019

the florence knoll women in design dialogues explore florence knoll’s pioneering approach to “total design” in the context of today’s design, artistic and workplace environments.

the events will be streamed live [ on this page ]

monday, 10 june

tuesday, 11 june

observe, experiment, speculate – parsons & charlesworth in conversation.

Dec 13, 2016

tuesday, december 13th, 6-8 pm, claudia cassidy theater, 2nd floor, chicago cultural center
please join tim parsons and jessica charlesworth in conversation with zoë ryan, john h. bryan chair and curator of architecture and design at the art institute of chicago, and writer lee ann norman exploring the nature of their independent design practice parsons & charlesworth and discussing questions raised by their exhibition spectacular vernacular.

about spectacular vernacular
showing three distinct aspects of parsons & charlesworth’s creative practice – observation, experimentation, and speculation – across the three galleries of the chicago rooms, the exhibition reveals how they mix our craft and industrial design backgrounds with influences from fiction, science and the arts. their approach explores the rhetorical, as well as the practical opportunities of designed objects, attempting to encourage a broadening of the traditional definition of the designer’s role. in doing so, they wish to make the case for independent design practice as a critical response and essential adjunct to the corporate design world. throughout the development of the exhibition,they have been in conversation with writer lee ann norman. lee ann has authored an essay about our practice, which is available to read in the exhibition and available via their website. spectacular vernacular is presented by the chicago cultural center and the city of chicago department of cultural affairs and special events (dcase).

making place: the architecture of david adjaye – the art institute chicago.

Sep 12, 2015

david adjaye | @ed reeve | courtesy of adjaye associates.

With over 50 built projects across the world, David Adjaye is rapidly emerging as a major international figure in architecture and design. Rather than advancing a signature architectural style, Adjaye’s structures address local concerns and conditions through both a historical understanding of context and a global understanding of modernism. Making Place is the first comprehensive museum survey devoted to Adjaye, this exhibition offers an in-depth overview of the architect’s distinct approach and visual language with a dynamic installation design conceived by Adjaye Associates.

Of African ancestry and raised in Ghana, the Middle East, and England, Adjaye now has offices in London, New York, Berlin and Accra. Like many international architects, he is itinerant, and his practices defy cultural borders and geopolitical categories. However, Adjaye is unique in being an African-born architect working in a global landscape. Having traveled the world studying buildings and architectural styles, most recently and extensively in Africa, he is acutely sensitive to the effects of location. A proponent for architecture from beyond the Western canon, he brings a distinctive contemporary “Afropolitan” view to his various projects.

While Adjaye has never adhered to a discrete style, his projects coalesce around certain ideas. Often set in cities struggling with diversity and difference, his public buildings provide spaces that foster links among people and explore how neighborhoods evolve, how new communities are created, and how unexpected junctures weave diverse urban identities and experiences into the tapestry of multiculturalism. Rethinking conventions, his designs speak to the specific time and place in which they were made. These ideas are expressed in important recent projects, such as the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., a building that faces history head-on, bringing together references from across Africa and America in a visually and physically evocative design.

This exhibition, comprising furniture, housing, public buildings, and master plans, fills the first-floor Abbott Galleries and the second-floor architecture and design galleries in the Modern Wing. In addition to drawings, sketches, models, and building mock-ups, a specially commissioned film featuring Adjaye’s collaborators—an international roster of artists, the exhibition curators, and other influential figures in the art world—helps bring his projects to life and makes clear the important role that Adjaye plays in contemporary architecture today.

exhibition> making place: the architecture of david adjaye
venue> art institute of chicago | 111 s michigan avenue
dates> 19 september 2015 > 06 january 2016

above> learn from curator Zoë Ryan how a life-sized pavilion, large-scale models, full-scale fragments, and a vast array of media combine to create the perfect museum experience of David Adjaye’s architecture.

David Adjaye – Collaborations (Trailer) from Signature Films, Germany on Vimeo.

above> memo | click on image > lightbox navigation

[ memo ] The Mass Extinction Memorial Observatory, will comprise a monument to the world’s extinct species and an adjacent biodiversity education centre. Conceived as a continuous spiral of stone, it will be carved with images of the 860 species assessed as extinct since the dodo.

It will be an on-going monument, with more stones added when species become extinct. The bell of biodiversity, placed in the centre of the monument, will be rung annually on the international day of biodiversity and to mark further species becoming extinct. Sited on the Isle of Portland on the south coast of Britain, each creature will be immortalized in stone along the circular ramp that leads to the top of the 100 foot high Bowers Quarry observatory. Visitors will then walk back down the outside of the ramp to ground level.

A fitting insertion into the landscape, the project presents an opportunity to revitalize the old Bowers Quarry and to draw attention back to the natural beauty and craftsmanship of Portland. Rather than a building or shelter, MEMO is devised as a journey, exploring the relationship between interior and exterior, landscape and enclosure. The circular form resonates with Portland’s three lighthouses near Portland Bill as well as the remains of the windmills at Perryfields to the south east of Weston. The spiraling arrangement is inspired by a turreted gastropod fossil, found in particular abundance in Bower’s Quarry, the ‘Portland Screw’ (Aptyxiella portlandica). The material palette is predominantly Portland Stone to reinforce a sense of the landscape, echoing the character of part of the cliff with its exposed stone strata. The sizes of the blocks and the rhythm of the joints are alternating with an accent on the horizontal joints, while the surface of the stones is rough – like the face of a Quarry Block. The development will promote the use of local and recycled material.

Adjaye designed the observatory and exhibition centre as a gift to the MEMO charitable organisation, which is collaborating with the EO Wilson Biodiversity Foundation in the US.

beatriz colomina and mark wigley appointed curators of the 3rd istanbul design biennial.

May 28, 2015

Beatriz Colomina and Mark Wigley have been appointed curators of the 3rd Istanbul Design Biennial, to be held from 22 October to 4 December 2016 by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV).

Internationally renowned architectural historian and theorist Beatriz Colomina is Professor of Architecture and Founding Director of the Program in Media and Modernity at Princeton University. Her books include Manifesto Architecture: The Ghost of Mies (Sternberg Press, 2014), Clip/Stamp/Fold: The Radical Architecture of Little Magazines 196X-197X (2010), Domesticity at War (2007), Privacy and Publicity: Modern Architecture as Mass Media (1994) andSexuality and Space (1992). She is curator with a team of Princeton Ph.D. students of the exhibitions Clip/Stamp/Fold: The Radical Architecture of Little Magazines 196X-197X (which opened at Storefront for Art and Architecture, New York, 2006 and has travelled to 11 venues worldwide), Playboy Architecture, 1953-79 (which opened at NAi Maastricht, 2012 and was at the DAM (Deutsche Architektur Museum) in Frankfurt in 2014, and Radical Pedagogies: Architectural Education in a Time of Disciplinary Instability (Lisbon Triennale, 2013 and Venice Biennale 2014).

Architecture historian, theorist, and critic from New Zealand based in New York, Mark Wigley is Professor and Dean Emeritus of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation. He is an architectural theorist, critic, and historian from New Zealand who is based in New York. The author of The Architecture of Deconstruction: Derrida’s Haunt (1993), White Walls, Designer Dresses: The Fashioning of Modern Architecture (1995), and Constant’s New Babylon: The Hyper-Architecture of Desire (1998), he coedited, with Catherine de Zegher, The Activist Drawing: Retracing Situationist Architectures from Constant’s New Babylon to Beyond, (2001) and was one of the founders of Volume magazine. He has curated exhibitions at the MoMA in New York, the Witte de With in Rotterdam, The Drawing Center in New York, and the CCA in Montreal. His forthcoming book is Buckminster Fuller Inc.: Architecture in the Age of Radio.

The Istanbul Design Biennial, taking place since 2012, aims to bring together a diverse cross section of design ideas, exploring a wide range of fields concerning design.

The conceptual framework of the 3rd Istanbul Design Biennial, organized by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts from 22 October to 4 December 2016, will be announced at a press conference in December 2015 by the curators Beatriz Colomina and Mark Wigley.

The 3rd Istanbul Design Biennial Advisory Board Members are managing director of Finnish design company Artek Marianne Goebl; architect and founder of architecture studio Superpool Selva Gürdoğan; designer, historian, architecture critic and curator Gökhan Karakuş; John H. Bryan Chair and Curator of Architecture and Design at the Art Institute of Chicago and curator of the 2nd Istanbul Design Biennial Zoë Ryan; and Founding Director Vitra Design Museum, President C.I.R.E.C.A. Domaine de Boisbuchet Alexander von Vegesack.

[ interview with zoë ryan ]

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zoë ryan: the future is not what it used to be. 2014 istanbul design biennial.

Oct 15, 2014

zoë ryan | courtesy the art institute of chicago/ portrait by cynthia lynn

Zoë Ryan is the John H. Bryan Curator of Architecture and Design and Chair of the Department of Architecture and Design at the Art Institute of Chicago. I’ve been trying to catch her for almost four months to talk about the curator appointment of the 2nd Istanbul Design Biennial coming up in October 2014. We talk following her break-out session with formlessfinder at Design Miami: [ff] won this year’s commission to build the entrance to the Design Miami pavilion.

[DesignApplause] Zoë, have you had a chance to get around Design Miami?
[Zoë Ryan] I’ve only had a small window before this talk, then I’ll head back out and start walking around.

[DA] This is my fifth year coming to Design Miami. I am sort of yearning for something more experimental.
[ZR] I mean, I would say, it’s difficult in this environment, but if you go back to Galerie kreo, they have one or two pieces from Hella Jongerius and one or two pieces from Wieki Somers which came from really experimental exhibitions. They’re kind of one or two from a big collection that they had produced that was shown in Paris. They were really fantastic. I thought that especially the Wieki Somers, um, these hybrids, furniture-lighting- not even sure what they are pieces- they were very exciting for me to see.

I also really enjoyed Volume Gallery and their show with only featuring Jonathan Muecke. I thought it’s quite daring to do a solo show. But in this environment, it really works well. It’s very legible, you get to see a great breadth of work. I think they’ve taken a lot of time. Their collection is very rigorous. It shows the breadth and depth of work, and for me, that’s what I’m looking for. Of course, this is a very specific environment to see this work in but I’m also very interested in.

I want to go see the Charlotte Perriand house on the beach that’s at the Raleigh Hotel, which is going to be hopefully a fantastic piece to see. I’ve never walked through the Herzog & de Meuron parking facility and check out the ‘Art Drive-Thru’ (Colette & Alchemist) installation. I’m curious about the new piece (Phare No. 1-9) by Simon Heijdens, who, you know, we’ve worked with in the past, who seems to know no bounds of his own dexterity as a designer. So I’m excited about that.

In terms of new experimentation, and also I think that’s where- for me- Miami excels is in these types of projects. Projects like formlessfinder’s and the Perrier-Jouët sponsored Simon’s project, are brilliant, where really those are the types of designers that are going to take this opportunity and really do something terrific with it. And something that really relates to their practice and helps them move their practice further, not only something that’s really rigorous and makes a lot of sense for them, and they get as much out of it as they give to the sponsor who’s sponsoring them. And I think more of that kind of sophistication is really needed. What have you seen?

[DA] You’ve given me new glasses to look through. The Swarovski Crystal Palace collaboration with Guilherme Torres creates ‘Mangue Groove’, an insightful installation inspired by mangrove trees to remind us of aquatic conservation efforts surrounding mangrove ecosystems in Brazil. Carpenters Workshop Gallery instilled the concept of time with two creatively fun video/grandfather clocks by Maarten Baas and rAndom created ‘Study of Time’ a mezmerizing illuminated digital wall hanging. Off-site there’s the ‘Untitled’ tent, the venue ‘finally’ on the beach and in Windwood there’s great graffiti art everywhere.

You mentioned Galerie kreo. They’re debuting a Poltrona di Proust armchair, first created by Alessandro Mendini in 1978; this version is in gold Bisazza mosaics. I’m not crazy about gold glitter. kreo director Joanna Frydman said, “It fits entirely with the luxurious mood of the fair.”

Can we talk about Istanbul? – Did this commission come out of nowhere for you?

[ZR] (Laughing) Yes, this came out of nowhere. So, in about- I don’t know- May of this year, I got an email from them asking if they could speak with me about the Biennial. I thought they were calling to ask about different projects and designers to work with, so I was all geared up for that. And then the next day they call again and asked me to curate their event and I was a bit, I was absolutely flabbergasted, but of course really excited.

It took me a minute to think on my good days, am I going to be able to do this project justice? And also will my boss, the Art Institute, allow me to do this? The museum is very committed to find work from other parts of the world and becoming more international, and definitely getting into parts of the world that have been, you know, largely ignored or overlooked.

One of the reasons why I was so excited to do the project was to work in Istanbul, a place that I’ve been to many times before, but never worked there, but somewhere I’ve always been a big fan of. And also to find that there really is a very thriving community of architects and designers there, which have a lot to give to the rest of the world and are really not known to the rest of the world. So that was really fantastic.

[DA] The theme ‘Manifesto’, was it given to you?
[ZR] No, absolutely not. When they came to me I asked for a few months to work on the title and the theme, and I was given complete carte blanche. I sort of floated some concepts past them last month- November. But I also went to Istanbul with my associate curator, Meredith Carruthers, who I hired, and we set out a number of different roundtable discussions with many, many architects and designers in the city, to get to know them and for them to get to know us and to start to throw ideas around. I already had in my mind what I wanted to- I love the history of manifestos, but I really wanted to rethink: what does it mean to have a manifesto today?

below> SIBLING reinstalls its video ‘The Encounterculture’, a manifesto of sevens ways to participate. The film, made in collaboration with Nicole Rose, is re-configured with eight tear-away propaganda posters that see the manifesto travel from the gallery wall out into the streets.

And the title of the Biennial is actually ‘the Future is Not What It Used to Be.” And it’s a way for us, I think we’re in this really critical moment, where we should take stock of where we are, where we’ve come from, and where we want to go. And we were using the manifesto really as a platform where we’re inviting architects and designers to rethink and revisit the history of manifestos, but propose ‘what is a conceptual design manifesto?’ You know, manifestos, towards the end of the 20th Century, seemed really outdated. They seemed naive, at best. And they were often very violent and destructive, they didn’t care about consequences. And so how can we use that talk and perhaps turn it around and reclaim it for our time?

Because I felt we’re in a moment where we do want both big and small ideas, but designers and architects really need to show that they can help us identify issues, work through issues and, at best, overcome issues. For example, how can the manifesto be something that deals with everyday realities, talk about the negative and positive consequences, look at the present yet potentially propose ideas for the future? A key- the manifesto does not need to be a text. It could be a project, it could be a provocation, it could be a service, it could be a publication. I mean, we’re looking for all kinds of projects that will make up the Biennial.

[DA] What’s your timeline?
[ZR] We’ve just launched the call for ideas, that’s gone online. And there’s a two-part call for ideas. The first part is the short statement and it’s about what your manifesto is, a few images, and what kind of platform or medium you want it to be in. And the deadline for that is February 1. And then we will circle back after that and start working individually with studios.

[DA] What are the expectations and criteria for the role of the curator? What’s the schedule for you going to be? How are you going to communicate with everyone to pull it together?
[ZR] Well, there are no hard and fast rules. I’ve been to Istanbul three times already, and I have my associate curator. There’s a team in Istanbul, there’s a foundation team that runs the Biennial. I’m building an international advisory. We have an informal advisory now in Istanbul. And we’re going to continue the idea sessions. We’ll be meeting at least once a month.

[DA] Zoë, is there anything you want to say that we didn’t talk about?
[ZR] Designers, we need you!

[ at-a-glance ]

below> Defne Koz, Marco Susani presents ‘Justaddwater’, their vision for the future of the food experience, where smart appliances meet creative gastronomy.

courtesy koz susani design

below> Turkey has had its share of earthquakes and there are earthquake kits available. In response to this need designers Jessica Charlesworth and Tim Parsons, who are looking at everyday surivivalism for different scenarios create a project called ‘New Survivalism: Alternative Bug-Out Bags’.

courtesy parsons & charles- worth

below> ‘Becoming Istanbul’ by Superpool and Project Projects, explores contemporary Istanbul through an interactive database of over 400 artists’ videos, photography series, documentaries, news reports, cartoons and architectural projects.

courtesy superpool & project projects

below> architect/designer Elena Manferdini serves up ‘Still Life to Living Pictures’ using digital rendering at the scale of architecture to create a space of aesthetic reflection, asking the viewer to be both critical and complicit in this transformed environment, to suspend disbelief and enter the imaginative space of the backdrop, but also to “break the fourth wall” and inspect the surface of her illusion.

updated / just in from istanbul sent by iphone | courtesy elena manferdini

[ participating designers and projects announced – updated ]

 ’The Future Is Not What It Used To Be’ hosts 53 projects that ask: “What is the future now?”  By rethinking the manifesto as a platform to frame pertinent questions, the projects question the role of design, its relationship to society, and its ability to be an active agent for change.

The exhibition at the Galata Greek Primary School, the hub of the 2nd Istanbul Design Biennial, will spread over all five floors of the school, an area of approximately 2,300 square meters.  The projects imagine new possibilities that can transform the present and invite new potential futures. Arranged in five departments— Personal, Norms and Standards, Resource, Civic Relations, and Broadcast — the projects question the manifesto as a platform for situating ideas and pointing to new directions.

[ personal department ] The Moonwalk Machine—Selena’s Step, Sputniko!
Consider Beauty, Studio Frith & Thirteen Ways
Still Life to Living Pictures, Atelier Manferdini: Elena Manferdini
Jardin d’hiver, Dice Kayek: Ayşe Ege and Ece Ege
In The Future, Everyone Will Be Heroic for 1.5 Minutes, Sarraf Galeyan Mekanik: Memduh Can Tanyeli, Erhun Erdoğan and Emine Seda Kayım
BIRDY 2214, Meriç Canatan and Fatosh Erhuy
Ownership of the Face, Kristina Cranfeld
Manifesting the Look of Love, Haelo Design: Helen Maria Nugent and Ron Kirkpatrick
Poly, giffin’termeer: Jess Giffin and Jim TerMeer
Mapmaker Manifesto, Stamen Design: Beth Schechter and Eric Rodenbeck
New Survivalism, Jessica Charlesworth and Tim Parsons

[ norms and standards department ] N°41 Workoutcomputer, BLESS: Desiree Heiss and Ines Kaag
Dyslexie Typeface, Christian Boer
Nap Gap, J. Mayer H. und Partner, Architekten: Jürgen Mayer H. with Wilko Hoffmann and Julien Sarale
smart design (. . .) smart life, Jacob de Baan, Giorgio Caione and Rianne Koens
Justaddwater, Koz Susani Design: Defne Koz, Marco Susani
LEPSIS: The Art of Growing Grasshoppers, Mansour Ourasanah
Designing for the Sixth Extinction, Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg
New Energy Landscapes, Sean Lally
Incomplete Manifesto for The Night, Clio Capeille
Towards a Universal Mundane Manifesto, Emmet Byrne and Alex DeArmond

[ resources department ] A Reading Room, Future Anecdotes Istanbul: Can Altay and Aslı Altay
Open Manifesto, FormaFantasma: Simone Farresin and Andrea Trimarchi
Palamut Timeline, Didem Şenol of Lokanta Maya and Gram, with Elif Esmez, Esra Aca
Rebuild the Electronic and Digital Tools, Coralie Gourguechon
NASALO Dictionary of Smell, Sissel Tolaas
This sea of sugar knows no bounds, AVM Curiosities: Tasha Marks
Hacking the Modern Kitchen, Gastronomika
Diario, Moisés Hernández
knowledge-tools-memory, Studio mischer’traxler: Katharina Mischer and Thomas Traxler
Crafted in Istanbul, Seda Erdural, Barış Gümüştaş and Bilal Yilmaz
Repair Society, Gabriele Oropallo, Joanna van der Zanden, and Cynthia Hathaway
Cultures of Assembly, Studio Miessen
Imagining Our Shared Future, Atatürk Library, Alexis Şanal and Ali Taptık

[ civic relations department ] Public Drawing, Atelier Bow-Wow: Yoshiharu Tsukamoto and Momoyo Kaijima
Use of Shores, a Micro-Manifesto on Micro-Urbanisms, İyiofis: Elif Ensari and Can Sucuoğlu
The Moment for the Generic is Now, fala atelier: Filipe Magalhães and Ana Luisa Soares
#occupygezi architecture, Architecture for All (Herkes için Mimarlık)
The Encounterculture or, Seven Ways to Participate, SIBLING: Amelia Borg, Nicholas Braun, Jonathan Brener, Jessica Brent, Jane Caught, Qianyi Lim, Timothy Moore, and Alan Ting
Retreat, dpr-barcelona: Ethel Baraona, Studio-X; GSAPP: Marina Otero and FAST, The New Institute, Rotterdam: Malkit Shoshan
Design Activism: A Contemporary Design Manifest, Manufakturist: Mia Bogovac, Matea Bronić, Maša Milovac, and Kristina Volf; GOTWOB: Begüm Çelik and Berk Şimşek
TWTRATE, Cansu Cürgen, Eren Tekin, Yelta Köm, Barış Gümüştaş, Avşar Gürpınar, Yağız Söylev and Arzu Erdem
Who Builds Your Architecture?, WBYA?: Kadambari Baxi, Jordan Carver, Laura Diamond Dixit, Tiffany Rattray, Beth Stryker, Mabel O. Wilson
How To Do Too Kadıköy, 72 Hour Urban Action: Kerem Halbrecht and Gilly Karjevsky; with Tasarım Atölyesi Kadıköy (TAK): Onur Atay, Omer Kanıpak, Sıla Akalp
Retroactive Manifesto, Rural Urban Framework: Joshua Bolchover and John Lin
UMK: Lives and Landscapes, Dunne & Raby: Anthony Dunne and Fiona Raby
Phoenix Declaration, Arctic Perspective Initiative (API): Matthew Biederman and Marko Peljhan
The Cultural Sauna, Åbäke
ABC Manifesto Corporation Writers and Consultants, disturbATI collective

[ broadcast department ] Kontraakt, H. Cenk Dereli, Hayrettin Günç, and Yelta Köm
Growing Manifesto, Something & Son: Andrew Merritt and Paul Smyth
Unfacebook, Vibok Works: Paula Alvarez
140journos: Data Concretization, Institute of Creative Minds: Cem Aydoğdu, Engin Önder, Hilal Koyuncu, İgal Nassima, Meriç Şeker

The biennial’s exhibition space, catalogue, and visual identity are designed by Istanbul based Superpool and Project Projects, New York.

[ the opening week program | 30 october > 2 november  ]

>press and professional preview | 30>31 october 2014
>press conference | 10am 30 october at galata greek primary school, followed by an exclusive tour of the exhibition with the curator zoë ryan, associate curator meredith carruthers and the director of the istanbul design biennial deniz ova.

The opening week will provide special opportunities to hear from a number of the participating designers as well as key experts from a variety of fields and occupations. Kicking off the biennial, Curator Zoë Ryan is joined by curators, designers and thinkers in an informal discussion on the Future of Manifestos with Aric Chen, Alison Clarke, and Fiona Raby, exploring the key themes of the biennial on Friday, 31 October between 2>4pm.

Related panels explore the Future of Exhibitions with Paola Antonelli, Jan Boelen, Vasıf Kortun, and Prem Krishnamurthy with curator Zoë Ryan on Saturday, 1 November between 4.30-6pm; and the Future of Publishing with associate curator Meredith Carruthers and Can and Aslı Altay (Future Anecdotes Istanbul) Simon Johnson (THAT Magazine), Adam Michaels (Project Projects) and TWTRATE, on Sunday, 2 November between 4.30>6pm.

Also included in the opening week’s programme will be personal dialogues by designers from all around the world. Designers in Dialogue moderated by Denise Marie Bennett will include Jessica Charlesworth & Tim Parsons – Coralie Gourguechon; Mansour Ourasanah – Marco Susani & Defne Koz; Joshua Bolchover and John Lin – Kadambari Baxi and Mabel Wilson; Natasha Marks – Katharina Mischer Thomas Traxler on Saturday, 1 November between 2-4pm; disturbATI collective – Clio Capeille; GOTWOB – Manufakturist; Arctic Perspective – Cenk Derelli & Yelta Köm; Beth Schechter – Helen Maria Nugent on Sunday, 2 November between 2>4pm.

[ 2nd istanbul design biennial events ]

In addition to the exhibition, the biennial hub at the Galata Greek Primary School will host different events for design enthusiasts daily for six weeks: the Kontraakt team’s broadcast programming will be held on Tuesdays and throughout the week, Q&A’s and panels on Wednesdays, film screenings on Thursdays, and Children and Youth program every day.

Design Walks, comprised of visits to design studios, stores, manufacturers, and noted buildings in 6 neighborhoods and 6 thematic walks on Istanbul’s Asian and European sides to examine the textures of the city and observe traditional crafts are organised throughout the biennial.

The Academy Programme featuring 72 projects including workshops, exhibitions and panels organized by over 33 universities from Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, Europe and the United States to reveal different aspects of the biennial theme can be viewed at university campuses and at Antrepo no.7.

event> [ 2014 Istanbul Design Biennial ] @tasarimbienali #tasarimmanifestosu #designbiennial
date> 1 > 14 november 2014 | tuesday > sunday 10a > 7p | free admission
venue> galata greek primary school | istanbul

<a href="about ron kovach

city in a garden: sustainable chicago poster design competition.

Mar 19, 2014

entries due by friday 4 april 2014 [ details ]

The City of Chicago welcomes designers to the Sustainable Chicago Poster Design Competition: CITY IN A GARDEN. Centered on the belief that graphic design can affect positive change, CITY IN A GARDEN seeks to integrate innovative and compelling design into Chicago’s urban fabric. Winning posters will be displayed on bus shelters and city information panels throughout the city, serving as public art, enhancing daily life in Chicago, and encouraging residents to live more sustainably. CITY IN A GARDEN aims to advance Chicago on its path to being the most livable, competitive and sustainable city.

The goal: To design a powerful, attention-grabbing, memorable poster, incorporating what it means for Chicago to be a sustainable city, bringing the City’s motto “Urbs in horto” (Latin for ‘City in a Garden’) to life. The design should be inspiring, engaging and ultimately, create a call to action for residents to make a difference in our community.

[ judges ] Philip Enquist FAIA, is Skidmore, Owings & Merrill’s firm-wide leader for Urban Design & Planning.
Sara Frisk is the Portfolio Director for IDEO Chicago
Zoë Ryan is the John H. Bryan Chair and Curator of Architecture and Design at the Art Institute of Chicago.
Rick Valicenti is the founder and design director of Thirst/3st, a communication design practice
Pooja Vukosavich is the creative catalyst for Studio V Design, Inc., a graphic design firm in Chicago
Karen Weigert serves as Chief Sustainability Officer for the City of Chicago
[ details ] [ @AIGAchicago @chidm @CCCArtDesign @DesignApplause @hcdinfo @IDSAchicago @IITDesign @saic_news @STA_CHICAGO @SustainColumbia @UIC_Art_Design ]

<a href="about ron kovach

Talking to architect and artist johanna grawunder. Design miami/ 2012.

Dec 2, 2013

collection > no whining on the yacht | carpenters workshop gallery | 2013

[DesignApplause] We’re talking to architect and artist Johanna Grawunder. Please share a little bit of your background?
[Johanna Grawunder] So I’m an architect. I trained in California, at Cal Polytechnic State. And then, at a very young age I moved to Florence to finish my degree in architecture and staying in Florence an extra year. Then of to Milan to work for Ettore Sottsass and ended up staying there 16 years. With Ettore I was doing mostly architecture. I became a partner in 1989. In 2001, I went out on my own. And since then I’ve been doing mostly limited edition art, furniture, custom commissions, some interiors, a little bit of product design.

[DA] Well you know what, you’re American bred, but you have the European combination of all the disciplines. How do you feel about the saying, ‘if you want to be a famous architect, design a chair.’
[JG] The chair is very difficult. I was telling you before about designing jewelry. Jewelry is an object that is so interactive on the body, very physical, a direct interaction and a little different than architecture where the body’s in space, moving through it. A chair is probably the piece of furniture you interact with most. A sofa is a little forgiving, because you can sit and lie on a sofa so many ways. But on a chair, pretty much everyone sits the same way. It has to be ergonomically quiet, you know, perfect and steady. And there so many really perfect chairs I have a difficult time thinking, what can I add that’s new? Whereas with lighting, I feel that there’s a lot I could still do as well as other kinds of more abstract forms of furniture. But a chair, someday, maybe someday.

DA: I predict your chair is going to be terrific. Describe your lighting. What do you try to achieve? Tell us about the white one with the panels. Zoe Ryan from the Art Institute of Chicago picked that out as one of the favorites at DesignMiami 2012.

line light | carpenters workshop gallery | 2012

[JG] That would be Line Light. I was very happy about that. They have one of my pieces in their collection, which is nice. Line Light is made of aluminum, steel and brass, LED bulbs. It’s a luminous wall light or a bas-relief sculpture, which plays with the surface of the wall it detaches itself from. Its arrangement means the light composes a veritable palette of colors, white and black modulated at will, reflecting off the wall to become a singular, ephemeral work of art.

[DA] Let’s talk about your light that’s in the Art Institute. Is it an LED light or is it a normal, energy-chewing bulb?
[JG] The Art Institute has ‘Boxy’ a luminous table in glass produced by Glasitalia. And it is LED. So, we’re good there. (Both laughing.) From the very beginning, even before LED was quite common, I used fluorescent tubes. At the time when I started doing them, the early ’90s, it was actually more for the form than thinking about the energy conservation. Because that wasn’t really on Milan’s design radar at that point, and it wasn’t really on my radar.

Although in the back of my head, I knew this was actually also a good form of light to use. But I was using it more for the form. When LED came along, there was this added advantage of the energy conservation. But as well, now, you can do so many different things with LED. When I started thinking about using LED, I didn’t feel like it was really ready for prime time. It was a novelty, and quickly was facing extinction because of the poor quality of light. Now I can use LED on almost anything.

[DA] Jake Dyson said the problem was you couldn’t get a reliable chip, and reliable chips have now been out for five years.
[JG] Lighting is polarizing for many right now. The incandescent is sufficiently entrenched and the options are expensive to switch to LED no matter what side you take. [ an aside: this conversation was a year ago and today there’s a shocking abundance of LED options. Home Depot was very smart to totally commit to LED before everyone else. ]

[DA] Making such a conceptually big switch in product is hard to visualize for most and even harder to execute. The car industry is trying to figure it out too because of the electric car.
[JG] But in the car industry, you have the third party, which isn’t just the car maker, it’s the oil companies. I didn’t mean to get so political so quickly.

pink void | carpenters workshop gallery | 2013

above> Pink Void, exploits hot pink anodized aluminum to cast a warming glow sure to enhance any interior environment. Simultaneously minimalist and bold, the floor lamp was inspired by a snapshot Grawunder saw of sunlight reflected on mirrored barn doors.

[DA] Let’s continue that thought. How does ‘design’ bump heads with politics?
[JG] The green issue is very interesting. You could say, ‘Well I’m only going to use recycled materials.” But if you say that, you’re still not discouraging the originator of the plastic bags. A philosophy I practice is to use the least material possible. If for one of my pieces, it turns out that steel provides the most thin, lightest, most performance efficient material, then I’ll use steel. We also should take into consideration the amount of energy and bad byproduct waste it takes to reach market. Does that make any sense? It’s not original. Frank Ackerman comes to mind.

[DA] So, if you want to design a ball, you will turn it into a whiffle ball.
[JG] Exactly. Now I don’t do light with regard to weight, nor super, super light. And I’m doing quite large, architectural-scaled abstract pieces. But within that world, trying to use the least amount of material as possible. For example, the Line Lights is comprised of mostly the LED, the rest of it is just a very thin aluminum panel.

[DA] What about that nice, black coffee table I saw at Carpenters Workshop Gallery?
[JG] The coffee table is aluminum too.

[DA] And uses Tron lighting. Was Tron (the movie) in the 70s?
[JG] You are not the first one to bring up Tron and I looked it up: 1982. Blade Runner too. It was ’80s. It was actually, I, I re-looked at it recently. It was right- I think it was a year before Blade Runner. The first one. (DA: Yeah.) And then the second one came out a few years ago, but the first one kind of blew my mind. (Laughing.)

[DA] Not meaning to be cruel but when did the Tron concept burst out of the table?
[JG] I’ve always sort of put light into my furniture and I count light as another material. I think of light as a kind of paint, as a kind of color, as a way to give an extra sort of soul.

In that table called ‘Platform’ I didn’t want an ‘big’ light, nothing to obvious, not a hybrid light that’s also a table. It was really about a table that just has a slight delineation of light. The gallery (Carpenters Workshop Gallery) was a big part of the concept discussions and everyone was pushing for less and less light. They wanted it even more mysterious. Just a few little pieces here and there. I like it and think it worked.

[DA] So they were a good client?
[JG] A very good client. (laughing.) I think of them more as a collaborator.

[DA] What’s the conception to finished piece process like?
[JG] I first presented the collection pieces, maybe 15 drawings, two years ago earlier. We met here in Miami, and it took a year and a half, which is a little longer than usual but I wasn’t in any hurry myself. I hadn’t done a custom collection like it for a few years, and I wanted to finish things that I had already started before concentrating on this collection. We modified things. We made prototypes. We went to Italy to check the engineering out up close plus thousands of Skype meetings from San Francisco.

All of these pieces were made in Italy. The artisans are fantastic. The two pieces you’re referring to were made by artisan Marzorati Ronchetti. We’re talking about six pieces of each design, so it’s not really an industrial thing.

[DA] Why do you like doing limited edition?
[JG] For a couple reasons. I don’t necessarily want these things following me for the rest of my life, you know? In 20 years someone says, ‘I like that table, can you have it made?’ I’d rather just be done and have moved on. And the limited edition model is good for collectors. And it’s a way to keep being able to propose new things, because if you wind up creating that crowd-pleaser piece you get through that and get out. The designer now has many more opportunities to create.

[DA] Have you done anything that was a production piece?
[JG] I did some lighting for Flos. And glass pieces for GlasItalia and vases for B&B Italia, a mirror for Boffi.

[DA] So it doesn’t really make any difference whether it’s limited or production?
[JG] In a perfect world it wouldn’t. But in a realistic world, I have a lot more creative freedom doing limited. With limited the galleries only have to worry about selling it six times. If you have to sell thousands I have to change my design so a thousand people like it and can afford it. And I feel I can research and experiment more with limited than I would with production. Although more recently, the production side is also having to take more risks than before, just to stay relevant, so both limited and production are sort of converging and good companies like Flos and Glasitalia totally get that.

[DA] The client is a big influence with regard to research and experimentation. Well, it seems like everything takes about 2 years, no matter what.
[JG] That’s interesting, yes.

[DA] When I saw the coffee table I immediately thought of Ad Reinhardt. I learned about Reinhardt because I decided to paint and it took a few years to actually stretch a canvas and put paint on it. I didn’t trust my tools and I didn’t want to ruin my reputation. It was starting from point zero to paint. My first painting was a black six-foot square and people were asking me if I knew Reinhardt.
[JG] (Laughing.) Uh oh, did he do a coffee table?

[DA] I don’t think so.
[JG] I like your story, because I’ve had people reference me to Donald Judd or earlier work people said Dan Flavin. Of course you get influenced by things, but it’s really indirect. I mean, really indirect. And whether that’s intentional or you get it through osmosis. I see stuff now that even younger designers do, which is very derivative, not necessarily of me, but sometimes, you know of other people too. And it makes me more forgiving, because you realize, well maybe they saw that in DesignApplause or something. But maybe they just picked it up in the ether and, or maybe the thought process brought them to the same point. If you came up with the black square by a very pure thought process, you’re in good company. Ha. (Laughing.)

[DA] Like my memory is not very good. (JG: Join the club.) Especially the ‘instant recall’ But mostly a result of our selective memories. I think our influences, our inspirations are selective also. I mean, there are some things you see and you never forget it.
[JG] We’re pre-programmed to react to that (DA: Totally.) not to the other thing, yeah.

[DA] Can you think of anything that was alien, what you thought was unique, and you did it, you got it?
[JG] When I did it, and I got it? That’s interesting. I have to say, when I first went to work at Sottsass, I was just out of college, and my intention was it was only going to be a summer job and then back to California. His layers of, um, sensoriality, was really quite alien to me. Because I had, I think, a kind of minimalist soul. I had studied modernist architecture and grew up in a California modern house. So to go up there and see this like total orgy of color and texture and forms, in fact, was a little bit alien to me.

And I didn’t fight it, because of course he was the master and I was a lowly draftsman for the first few years. Slowly, I started to understand the reasonings behind it, that it wasn’t kind of this irresponsible, crazy, what people were calling it ‘zany’, you know, wacky- it wasn’t that at all. It was a very serious, political statement about design and how we live, the choices that people are given. So, from that, I tried to get into that a little bit. And some of the first work I did on my own was probably much more influenced by Memphis and by Sottsass.

Since I’ve been out of that, not out of it but stepping out and trying to make my own way, I find myself coming back to a more of an original root. Of course, now, hopefully much enriched by this incredible experience I had at Sottsass. And certainly not superseding in any way, but my natural tendency is to be more reductive. And to be a little bit harder, in a sense. And more what I was considering architectural, which was these abstract, straight line forms. Does that make sense?

[DA] Yes. So what was it like working for Ettore and what did you learn?
[JG] I learned enough that someday there might be a book. (Laughing heartily.) I doubt it, but there’s a lot there. It was just an amazing, mind-blowing experience to go up there. First of all, you’re a Californian living in Italy, is already a pretty amazing experience. A lot of people have done it. But he in particular, he was really a master with a whole school of thought. And he’s seeded so many different designers out of that school, who’ve traveled different roads and found different ways of expressing themselves.

I think that’s his main lesson. You have to find your own innate road and then work it and believe it, trust your instincts, but be very aware that every decision you make is – I keep using the word political- because he used that word- it’s actually a political decision.

If you’re using gold, well that means something culturally. That means something in the history of design, but it also means something in the history of class warfare. You have to be very aware of what you’re doing at any given time. And that was a huge lesson. To understand that everything you do has meaning and sort of reverberates in one way or another to what you really believe. If you’re true to yourself.

[DA] You worked with him for such a long time, how would you describe what his mission and vision was? What was his thing? What was he trying to do?
[JG] I worked with him probably I think longer than anyone, except for his original partner, Marco Zanini, I was there 16 years straight. And I do not feel, what’s the word?

[DA] Qualified?
[JG] Qualified. Thats the word. I don’t really feel qualified to try to summarize that. I can only say what it meant to me. So for me the lessons were what I was saying, everything has a reason. What may surprise many, he had no tolerance for decorative things, even when they were definitely the easier way to go. And even though people thought it was decorative. It was instead very precise ways of moving things around. I never heard him say, ‘I did this because it’s cool.’ Or, ‘Yeah, yeah I liked it.’ Or, ‘Well, let’s try that, the kids like it.” I never heard that kind of thing. It was always a very specific discussion about the meaning of things, and finding ideas and inspiration in common places, like the latteria on the corner by his house, which had a crazy op-art plastic laminate counter, in the 70s, and the thing is, he ‘saw’ that, he was open to that kind of stimulus.

And he was so very important in the history of design and you can see his influence all over Miami.

You know, Memphis and Alchemia before Memphis, were the original limited edition design, an experimental kind of really crazy, not normal, not production furniture. It was the first time they were showing these pieces in galleries. In 1981, the first Memphis show was actually in a gallery, and you know, it was a whole new thing.

sottsass associati | ettore and johanna collaborate |

Before then, it was rare to see heavy, heavy experimentation with furniture, with few exceptions like Joe Colomobo, or the Radical Design shows in the 70s. In fact only recently has this area been dubbed art design. I think it was dubbed pretty much for Design Miami. With respect to my pursuit of limited edition helped me in the States. In Europe, limited edition design, experimental design was in place at this time. There were people collecting and or just wanting to see it. But in the US, I had a very difficult time early on explaining what I do. You know, they understood furniture design and craftsmanship. So when I did a show in San Francisco in 2003, with pieces from Europe, and people asked me questions like: ‘So you’re a glass blower?’ Because I had pieces in glass. Or, ‘Are you a metal worker?’ Because I had things in metal, and I had to explain, well no, I’m a designer.

Oh, but so are these in limited production? It was a very complicated thing and I think that the market here- although I hate to give the markets too much credit, but it’s been hugely important for this particular field. How valuable this field is, that’s a different question. For me personally, it’s valuable. I think for the history of design, it should be valuable. It’s valuable if product designers are seeing experimentation and using that patrimony of knowledge that comes out of doing prototypes and things like that.

[DA] I’m going to have to learn when and why the design galleries emerged.
[JG] Now I’ve got to check my history, because I’m thinking more 50s’ and 60s’, such as work by Jean Prouve for example, wasn’t really made for galleries. Those were commissions of private people or institutions asking to fill this government building with furniture. The fact that French dealers went in and saw the work and realized what it was and took it out of that context and then put it in a gallery. That’s a different situation.

[DA] Do you feel there’s supposed to be a design statement in your work? Or is it individual?
[JG] For me, after some years of experience, I feel it’s a little bit more individual. It doesn’t mean that I’m creating in a vacuum, but I don’t really necessarily try to consider design history or the direction of how design is going. I feel like it’s a little bit more my own personal road at this point, but hopefully a road that is still extremely valid. And takes advantage of new technology and philosophies about use of materials, any new materials, any new ways to control light. The materials, the technologies do drive the process but form and color, that’s more individual.

johanna | satai hotel miami beach | 2012

And I am aware when the street is going in a totally different direction, you know, the design street, I should call it. For example, a lot of very Expressionistic and almost organic. And I just don’t feel that’s my road. I’m an architect by training. I like straight lines. It doesn’t mean I won’t do a curve now and then, but I do like straight lines. I like the idea of order and geometry and to follow the basics, which would be technology, material science, function. And my respect for architecture and architectural form is really going to be hard to shake.

A final thing is designing within an urban environment. Space, or lack of space and lack of light pose challenges. These kinds of challenges for me are what hopefully will keep stimulating the design. (looking at her watch) OMG! Look what time it is!!

Johanna’s current work can be see at [ carpenters’s workshop gallery ] during Design Miami 2013

Theme announcement. 2nd istanbul design biennial 2014.

Nov 14, 2013

2nd istanbul design biennial | 18 october > 14 december 2014

The second edition of the Istanbul Design Biennial, organized by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV), will be 18 October – 14 December 2014. The title of the biennial “The Future Is Not What It Used To Be” was just announced by curator Zoë Ryan. At the opening speech held in FerahFeza in Karaköy, İKSV Chairman Bülent Eczacıbaşı underlined that the Istanbul Design Biennial has attracted high interest in Turkey and in the international arena, received positive responses and has been pivotal in opening up new areas of discussion in the field of design and added: “With the biennial, Istanbul has strengthened its position in the design world. Fruitful dialogues have been developed with highly esteemed design events all around the world in order to initiate new collaborations. Benefiting from the experience of the first biennial, we believe that the second Istanbul Design Biennial will further the success of this biennial and become even more effective, productive, thought-provoking, creative and inspirational. With the aim of contributing to the accessibility and outreach of the event, admission to the next Istanbul Design Biennial will be free of charge.”

The second Istanbul Design Biennial asks “What is the future now?” As Ryan explained, the biennial asks how can we reclaim the manifesto for the 21st century and beyond, not only in the production of texts, but through actions, services, provocations, or objects and seize the potential to incite inventive outcomes? As a platform for generating new ideas, the biennial invites submissions for contemporary design manifestos that explore the complex role of design in today’s society. Ryan also added that the biennial will embrace designs that are visionary, yet grounded in everyday realities—innovative approaches that are transforming how we see, interact with, and understand the world. The biennial will articulate a portrait of design activity today, mapping the often unexpected ways the field intersects with contemporary life: with basic human needs such as food, shelter, health and safety, but also with less tangible issues, including love, play, fear, discord, abundance, sustainability, mobility, accessibility, community, and geopolitics. [ iksv ]

zoë ryan | curator of the 2nd istanbul design biennial