Vitra Schaudepot

Gae Aulenti (1927–2012) was one of the few Italian women in architecture and design to rise to prominence in the postwar years. If Italy came to be the dominant force in international product design in the 1960s, Aulenti’s iconic »Locus Solus« series (1964) or the »Pipistrello« lamp (1965) for the interior of the Paris Olivetti showroom played an important part. As an architect, Aulenti gained worldwide recognition for the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, which she famously converted from a former train station from 1980 to 1986. An exhibition at the Vitra Schaudepot in spring 2020 will present her multifaceted work, which also included projects in the fields of set, exhibition, and interior design.

Opening: 28 February 2020, 6:30 pm, Vitra Schaudepot

Image:
Gae Aulenti, Pipistrello, 1965 © Vitra Design Museum, photo: Andreas Sütterlin

Vitra Design Museum Gallery

Not only scientists and activists, but designers, too, are developing strategies to protect and regenerate the health of the oceans. Designer Julia Lohmann has been exploring the material qualities of algae with her »Department of Seaweed« since 2013. Through her work, she demands a rethinking of traditional design approaches in order to find solutions for today’s environmental issues. This is illustrated by an exhibition at the Vitra Design Museum Gallery, which includes input from an international network of designers and ocean scientists. »Sea Change« is part of an evolving series that originated as »Critical Tide« at the Design Museum Helsinki in late 2019.

Opening: 15 May 2020, 6 pm, Vitra Design Museum Gallery

Image:
Julia Lohmann, Oki Naganode, 2015 (Earth Matters Exhibition at Artipelag, Stockholm, Sweden), photo: Jean-Baptiste Beranger

Vitra Schaudepot

While the art of American visual artist Donald Judd (1928–1994) is well-known across the globe, few people are aware that he also worked extensively in the fields of architecture and design. After relocating to Marfa, Texas, from New York in 1973, Judd began crafting simple, functional furniture at the lumber yard, mostly because he was dissatisfied with what was available locally. He later went on to develop successful furniture series in wood and metal which are still in production today. The upcoming exhibition at the Vitra Schaudepot will display furniture pieces by Judd from the Vitra Design Museum’s collection alongside objects by designers whose works Judd collected.

Opening: 3 July 2020, 6:30 pm, Vitra Schaudepot

Image:
Donald Judd, Wintergarden Bench 16, 1980 © Vitra Design Museum, photo: Andreas Sütterlin / VG Bild-Kunst Bonn, 2019

Vitra Design Museum

The Japanese architecture studio SANAA, founded by Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa in Tokyo in 1995, is one of the most influential architectural practices of our time. Known for the crisp and sheer simplicity of their buildings, SANAA realizes projects with spatial relations that are among the most radical and complex to be found in contemporary architecture. The light appearance of their buildings often hides a complexity developed in close collaboration with highly skilled engineers, almost invisibly pushing the boundaries of technical construction. From September 2020 to March 2021, the Vitra Design Museum will devote a major solo exhibition to these pioneers of architecture. The show will present SANAA’s most important works and give insight into their design ideals and working methods. Exhibits will include models, plans, drawings, furniture, and 1:1 mock-ups, as well as large-format photography and film projections. The exhibition will be curated and designed by Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa.

Opening: 11 September 2020, 6 pm

Image:
Office of Ryue Nishizawa, Teshima Art Museum, Teshima, Japan, 2004-10; Rei Naito, Matrix, 2010 © Fukutake Foundation, photo: Noboru Morikawa