Vitra Design Museum

Konstantin Grcic Panorama

Exhibition Concept

Konstantin Grcic Panorama

Konstantin Grcic is one of the leading designers of our time. His work is characterized by an intensive exploration of new materials and technologies, but also by a keen interest in contemporary art and future living. Many of Grcic’s creations, such as Chair_One (2004) or the Mayday lamp (1999), are already recognized as design classics. With the exhibition «Konstantin Grcic – Panorama», the Vitra Design Museum is organizing the largest solo exhibition on his work to date. It will be shown at the Vitra Design Museum from March through September 2014 along with subsequent presen-tations at various museums worldwide.

Konstantin Grcic began his career with training in cabinet making followed by design studies at the Royal College of Art in London. After a brief stint in the studio of the designer Jasper Morrison, he opened his own practice in Munich in 1991. In his studio, Grcic has since worked primarily as a designer of furniture, products and interiors in collaboration with such renowned clients as Authentics, BASF, ClassiCon, Emeco, Flos, Magis, Muji, Nespresso, Plank and Vitra. The exhibition «Konstantin Grcic – Panorama» provides a com-prehensive overview of Grcic’s work and sheds light on his inspirations and work processes. At the same time, it is not a classic retrospective but an independent new design project: Grcic will be developing a number of spatial installations for the exhibition to render his personal visions for life in the future and place them in a broader intellectual context.This concept is closely linked with Grcic’s work approach. For him, design is the development of objects that become part of our future and must satisfy its needs and constraints – in everyday use as well as in social or ecological terms. At a time of crises and technological transformations, Grcic attempts to understand and improve our evolving living con-ditions with the ways and means of a designer. For each project, he closely examines the client’s technical know-how

and refines the construction and functionality of his objects in a lengthy development process. Inspirations from fine arts and film lend Grcic’s objects a highly individual, often un-conventional aura – at times unwieldy, at times poetic, at times surreal and surprising.Another important point of reference for Grcic’s works is the history of design itself, such as when he reinterprets well-known classics with the Bench B seating system (2013) and his OK lamp (2013). A particular source of fascination for Grcic are past exhibitions on the future, such as «Visiona 2» by Verner Panton (1970) and the legendary exhibition «Italy – The New Domestic Landscape», which was shown at New York’s Museum of Modern Art in 1972. Such futuristic yet long past projects provide Grcic with inspiration for his own work: which predictions have come true, which have gone unfulfilled? How can we today create similarly salient visions that reflect our collective expectations and hopes for the future? And what role can be played by design?

Konstantin Grcic, 2007 Mayday, lamp, Flos, Konstantin Grcic, 1999

Diana A-F, side tables, ClassiCon, Konstantin Grcic, 2002 Myto, cantilever chair, Plank, Konstantin Grcic, 2008

Medici, side chair, Mattiazzi, Konstantin Grcic, 2012

Coup, tea set, Tomas Rosenthal, Konstantin Grcic, 2005

Glove, vessel, Cor Unum, Konstantin Grcic, 2002

Chair_One, Magis, Konstantin Grcic, 2004

Miura, bar stool, Plank, Konstantin Grcic, 2005

Champions, table, Galerie Kreo, Konstantin Grcic, 2011

Tip, waste bin, Authentics, Konstantin Grcic, 2003

Missing Object, Galerie Kreo, Konstantin Grcic, 2004

Dummy, Prototypes in PU-foam, Moroso, Konstantin Grcic, 2004

Avus, club chair, Plank, Konstantin Grcic, 2011 Tom & Jerry, stool, Magis, Konstantin Grcic, 2011

Konstantin Grcic Panorama

Konstantin Grcic is one of the leading designers of our time. His work is characterized by an intensive exploration of new materials and technologies, but also by a keen interest in contemporary art and future living. Many of Grcic’s creations, such as Chair_One (2004) or the Mayday lamp (1999), are already recognized as design classics. With the exhibition «Konstantin Grcic – Panorama», the Vitra Design Museum is organizing the largest solo exhibition on his work to date. It will be shown at the Vitra Design Museum from March through September 2014 along with subsequent presen-tations at various museums worldwide.

Konstantin Grcic began his career with training in cabinet making followed by design studies at the Royal College of Art in London. After a brief stint in the studio of the designer Jasper Morrison, he opened his own practice in Munich in 1991. In his studio, Grcic has since worked primarily as a designer of furniture, products and interiors in collaboration with such renowned clients as Authentics, BASF, ClassiCon, Emeco, Flos, Magis, Muji, Nespresso, Plank and Vitra. The exhibition «Konstantin Grcic – Panorama» provides a com-prehensive overview of Grcic’s work and sheds light on his inspirations and work processes. At the same time, it is not a classic retrospective but an independent new design project: Grcic will be developing a number of spatial installations for the exhibition to render his personal visions for life in the future and place them in a broader intellectual context.This concept is closely linked with Grcic’s work approach. For him, design is the development of objects that become part of our future and must satisfy its needs and constraints – in everyday use as well as in social or ecological terms. At a time of crises and technological transformations, Grcic attempts to understand and improve our evolving living con-ditions with the ways and means of a designer. For each project, he closely examines the client’s technical know-how

and refines the construction and functionality of his objects in a lengthy development process. Inspirations from fine arts and film lend Grcic’s objects a highly individual, often un-conventional aura – at times unwieldy, at times poetic, at times surreal and surprising.Another important point of reference for Grcic’s works is the history of design itself, such as when he reinterprets well-known classics with the Bench B seating system (2013) and his OK lamp (2013). A particular source of fascination for Grcic are past exhibitions on the future, such as «Visiona 2» by Verner Panton (1970) and the legendary exhibition «Italy – The New Domestic Landscape», which was shown at New York’s Museum of Modern Art in 1972. Such futuristic yet long past projects provide Grcic with inspiration for his own work: which predictions have come true, which have gone unfulfilled? How can we today create similarly salient visions that reflect our collective expectations and hopes for the future? And what role can be played by design?

Konstantin Grcic, 2007 Mayday, lamp, Flos, Konstantin Grcic, 1999

Diana A-F, side tables, ClassiCon, Konstantin Grcic, 2002 Myto, cantilever chair, Plank, Konstantin Grcic, 2008

Medici, side chair, Mattiazzi, Konstantin Grcic, 2012

Coup, tea set, Tomas Rosenthal, Konstantin Grcic, 2005

Glove, vessel, Cor Unum, Konstantin Grcic, 2002

Chair_One, Magis, Konstantin Grcic, 2004

Miura, bar stool, Plank, Konstantin Grcic, 2005

Champions, table, Galerie Kreo, Konstantin Grcic, 2011

Tip, waste bin, Authentics, Konstantin Grcic, 2003

Missing Object, Galerie Kreo, Konstantin Grcic, 2004

Dummy, Prototypes in PU-foam, Moroso, Konstantin Grcic, 2004

Avus, club chair, Plank, Konstantin Grcic, 2011 Tom & Jerry, stool, Magis, Konstantin Grcic, 2011

Design study for «Panorama» exhibition by Konstantin Grcic, «Work_Space»

Concept

The exhibition centres around three large installa-tions dedicated to a key design theme: living and interiors, work and production, and the public space. Each of these areas is conceived as a stage-like scenario with which Grcic lays out his vision of the future for the respective theme. The installa-tions will feature existing designs, new objects, found artefacts and archival documents, supple-mented by film material, background information and narrative fragments reflecting the potential life of an imaginary user in the various sections of the exhibition. Current debates such as those on sustainability, open design and 3D printing are further developed and examined in regard to their concrete impact – imparted through the work of the designer – on our future way of life.

For the first area, Grcic creates an experimental habitat. The personal needs and aspirations placed on future living situ-ations will be explored by means of a programmatic dwelling space with a central living platform that includes technical features and functions as a flexible, yet intimate enclosure. The second area will show the prototype of a design studio, from the technologies and machines employed up to the objects created. This section asks how design, craft and in-dustry will change and which repercussions this will have on the creation and form of our objects. The third area will take a look at public spaces. An impressive panorama image which is being developed for the exhibition shows realistic and fictional scenes of city life, infrastructures and open landscape. This highly detailed image provides a manifold

outlook on our future way of life by correlating utopian and dystopian, enjoyable and disturbing narratives. The fourth and final area of the exhibition contains an «Archive of Things», in which a large number of Grcic’s previous works will be shown, complemented by sketches, models, prototypes, his-torical objects and found artefacts. Grcic’s oeuvre will be presented in a narrative sequence and investigated in regard to the influence of other objects and eras, culminat-ing in a forward-looking perspective – how will this body of works continue to develop? What can we learn about the creation and development of design to apply it even more effectively for our future?With its mix of retrospective and outlook, the exhibition «Konstantin Grcic – Panorama» also ties in with the at-tempts of the 1960 / 70s to imagine the future through de-sign. Although we know today how easily such visions can fall short, the exhibition represents the position that such explorations of the future are more urgent than ever in light of the many challenges faced by humanity. While past designers often placed an excessive faith in technology and expressed their belief in a «brave new world», Grcic is seeking more differentiated, contemporary images for our future ways of life. Along with the driving force of positive utopias, the exhibition also includes bleak, dystopian as-pects, associative images and narrative sequences. Grcic’s look into a possible future is fragmented and contemplative but also extraordinarily vivid. It takes shape as a collage of subjective visions and scientific forecasts, of reality and science fiction, of the many images, facts and opinions from which each of us today–designer or not–must distil his or her own future.

Design study for «Panorama» exhibition by Konstantin Grcic, «Life_Space» Design study for «Panorama» exhibition by Konstantin Grcic, «Public_Space»

Design study for «Panorama» exhibition by Konstantin Grcic, «Work_Space»

Concept

The exhibition centres around three large installa-tions dedicated to a key design theme: living and interiors, work and production, and the public space. Each of these areas is conceived as a stage-like scenario with which Grcic lays out his vision of the future for the respective theme. The installa-tions will feature existing designs, new objects, found artefacts and archival documents, supple-mented by film material, background information and narrative fragments reflecting the potential life of an imaginary user in the various sections of the exhibition. Current debates such as those on sustainability, open design and 3D printing are further developed and examined in regard to their concrete impact – imparted through the work of the designer – on our future way of life.

For the first area, Grcic creates an experimental habitat. The personal needs and aspirations placed on future living situ-ations will be explored by means of a programmatic dwelling space with a central living platform that includes technical features and functions as a flexible, yet intimate enclosure. The second area will show the prototype of a design studio, from the technologies and machines employed up to the objects created. This section asks how design, craft and in-dustry will change and which repercussions this will have on the creation and form of our objects. The third area will take a look at public spaces. An impressive panorama image which is being developed for the exhibition shows realistic and fictional scenes of city life, infrastructures and open landscape. This highly detailed image provides a manifold

outlook on our future way of life by correlating utopian and dystopian, enjoyable and disturbing narratives. The fourth and final area of the exhibition contains an «Archive of Things», in which a large number of Grcic’s previous works will be shown, complemented by sketches, models, prototypes, his-torical objects and found artefacts. Grcic’s oeuvre will be presented in a narrative sequence and investigated in regard to the influence of other objects and eras, culminat-ing in a forward-looking perspective – how will this body of works continue to develop? What can we learn about the creation and development of design to apply it even more effectively for our future?With its mix of retrospective and outlook, the exhibition «Konstantin Grcic – Panorama» also ties in with the at-tempts of the 1960 / 70s to imagine the future through de-sign. Although we know today how easily such visions can fall short, the exhibition represents the position that such explorations of the future are more urgent than ever in light of the many challenges faced by humanity. While past designers often placed an excessive faith in technology and expressed their belief in a «brave new world», Grcic is seeking more differentiated, contemporary images for our future ways of life. Along with the driving force of positive utopias, the exhibition also includes bleak, dystopian as-pects, associative images and narrative sequences. Grcic’s look into a possible future is fragmented and contemplative but also extraordinarily vivid. It takes shape as a collage of subjective visions and scientific forecasts, of reality and science fiction, of the many images, facts and opinions from which each of us today–designer or not–must distil his or her own future.

Design study for «Panorama» exhibition by Konstantin Grcic, «Life_Space» Design study for «Panorama» exhibition by Konstantin Grcic, «Public_Space»

Exhibition Space500 – 1000 m2 / 5.000 – 10.000 sq ft ExhibitsThe exhibition presents Grcic’s work – products, proto-types, models, sketches – and especially three-dimen-sional installations designed by Grcic visualising key areas of our future life. Those are accompanied by refer-ence works by the means of films, images and texts.

DatesVitra Design Museum: 29. March – 14. September 2014The exhibition will tour internationally from 2014 until 2018.

CatalogueAn extensive catalogue is being published with essays about Grcic’s work and more general texts discussing our future way of life, with a visual collage of the exhibi-tion and a catalogue raisonné. Supporting programmeThe exhibition is accompanied by a comprehensive event programme including talks, workshops and a variety of special events.

ContactVitra Design MuseumCharles-Eames-Str. 2D-79576 Weil am Rheinwww.design-museum.de

ConceptMateo KriesKonstantin GrcicJan Boelen

Janna LipskyAssociate CuratorT +49.7621.702.3722janna.lipsky@design-museum.de

TourReiner PackeiserHead of the Exhibition DepartmentT +49.7621.702.3729reiner.packeiser@design-museum.de

An exhibition of the Vitra Design Museum and Z33, Hasselt

Facts

Design study for «Panorama» exhibition by Konstantin Grcic, «Archive of Things»

Credits© Åke E:son Lindman (Image 1) © KGID, photo: Markus Jans (Image 2) © KGID (Image 3,6 – 7,10,14,16 – 19) © KGID, photo: Gerhard Kellermann (Image 4) © KGID, photo: Fabrice Gousset (Image 5) © KGID, photo: Florian Böhm (Image 8,12 – 13,15,20) © Marc DOMAGE Courtesy Galerie Kreo (Image 9) © KGID, photo: Tom Vack (Image 11)

Exhibition Space500 – 1000 m2 / 5.000 – 10.000 sq ft ExhibitsThe exhibition presents Grcic’s work – products, proto-types, models, sketches – and especially three-dimen-sional installations designed by Grcic visualising key areas of our future life. Those are accompanied by refer-ence works by the means of films, images and texts.

DatesVitra Design Museum: 29. March – 14. September 2014The exhibition will tour internationally from 2014 until 2018.

CatalogueAn extensive catalogue is being published with essays about Grcic’s work and more general texts discussing our future way of life, with a visual collage of the exhibi-tion and a catalogue raisonné. Supporting programmeThe exhibition is accompanied by a comprehensive event programme including talks, workshops and a variety of special events.

ContactVitra Design MuseumCharles-Eames-Str. 2D-79576 Weil am Rheinwww.design-museum.de

ConceptMateo KriesKonstantin GrcicJan Boelen

Janna LipskyAssociate CuratorT +49.7621.702.3722janna.lipsky@design-museum.de

TourReiner PackeiserHead of the Exhibition DepartmentT +49.7621.702.3729reiner.packeiser@design-museum.de

An exhibition of the Vitra Design Museum and Z33, Hasselt

Facts

Design study for «Panorama» exhibition by Konstantin Grcic, «Archive of Things»

Credits© Åke E:son Lindman (Image 1) © KGID, photo: Markus Jans (Image 2) © KGID (Image 3,6 – 7,10,14,16 – 19) © KGID, photo: Gerhard Kellermann (Image 4) © KGID, photo: Fabrice Gousset (Image 5) © KGID, photo: Florian Böhm (Image 8,12 – 13,15,20) © Marc DOMAGE Courtesy Galerie Kreo (Image 9) © KGID, photo: Tom Vack (Image 11)

Charles-Eames-Str. 2D-79576 Weil am RheinT +49.7621.702.3200www.design-museum.de

Vitra Design Museum

«Design is the adventure of not exactly knowing what a given creative process will yield. I refuse to have any preconceived notions of functionality, any preconceived ideas of comfort and beauty. I want to understand how design is connected to life. The fact that life is not perfect makes it all the more interesting; it is therefore all right if products are a bit unruly. My designs do not immediately reveal themselves. They do what they are designed to do, are functional, but at the same time, and implicitly, they question their own functionality and call upon the user to do likewise.» Konstantin Grcic