Talks

Form follows Fiction?
Wieki Somers and Ronan Bouroullec in conversation with Mateo Kries
OPENING TALK (EN) | 27 September 2019
6 pm, Fire Station

Ronan Bouroullec is one of the leading designers of our time, Wieki Somers has gained international acclaim working at the interface of design and art. At the opening of the exhibition »Objects of Desire: Surrealism and Design«, these two will join Mateo Kries, director of the Vitra Design Museum and curator of the exhibition, in a talk about design and the surreal. They will address fundamental design issues, inquiring into the roles that chance and the subconscious play in new designs. Does form invariably follow function? Where is the boundary between design and art – if it exists at all?
Free admission, registration by 23 September 2019 under events@design-museum.de

Humberto Campana – Welcome the Surreal!
TALK (EN) | 10 October 2019
6:30 pm, Vitra Schaudepot

Humberto and Fernando Campana are Latin America’s leading designers whose works appear in many acclaimed interiors, including Kylie Jenner’s living room. Their installations, lamps, and furniture – the »Favela Chair« (1991) is probably their best-known piece – are provocative, playful, and imaginative. Humberto Campana’s talk about his design work is followed by a conversation with Mateo Kries, director of the Vitra Design Museum.
Free admission, registration: events@design-museum.de 

Hella Jongerius – Unbreaking Walls
OPENING TALK (EN) | 25 October 2019
6:30 pm, Vitra Schaudepot

In conjunction with the exhibition opening »After the Wall: Design since 1989«, the Vitra Design Museum will host an opening talk with the Dutch designer Hella Jongerius on the major trends, shifts and challenges of design in the past thirty years. She is one of the most prominent designers in the world thanks to her blending of craft and technology and her innovative use of colour. Jongerius will give a talk tracing her professional development from 1989 until today.
Free admission

Barbara Vinken – Fashion and Surrealism:
Images of Femininity from Dalí to Dior
TALK (DE) | 7 November 2019
6:30 pm, Vitra Schaudepot

Literary scholar and fashion expert Barbara Vinken explores the role of women in fashion and art. In her talk she will address the often piquant relationships between Surrealism, fashion, and changing images of femininity. What does it mean that Salvador Dalí designed a lip-shaped sofa and Man Ray painted the f-holes of a stringed instrument onto a female nude? What impact did Surrealism have on fashion, and what is its lasting influence on such contemporary fashion designers as Rei Kawakubo from Comme des Garçons or Iris van Herpen?
Free admission

Algae: A New Material and Design Tool for the 21st Century?
Atelier Luma
TALK (EN) | 28 November 2019
6:30 pm, Vitra Schaudepot

Algae are considered a promising new raw material for industry and design. Atelier Luma, a think tank of the Luma Foundation in Arles (southern France), explores its potential with a network of scientists, engineers, agriculturists and producers, which creates innovative bioplastics and new manufacturing processes in the fields of textiles and photography. Johanna Weggelaar introduces the project and presents examples of algae products to demonstrate how the new material can be processed and how it might influence and change society. Get yourself a drink and participate in the open discussion about the possibilities and challenges of the algae-based alternative.
Free admission

Finissage: Etienne Turpin – Desire, Eroticism, Design
SPECIAL (EN) | 19 January 2020
6 pm, Fire Station

At the final event accompanying the exhibition »Objects of Desire: Surrealism and Design«, philosopher Etienne Turpin talks about eroticism and desire, design and art. Ranging from Salvador Dalí and Meret Oppenheim to Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalysis, from philosophers Georges Bataille and Michel Foucault to American singer Beyoncé Carter-Knowles, his presentation shows that sex and eroticism still play a central role in the production of art, although the role models involved may have become more open and ambivalent. The evening will be rounded off by music and a glass of absinth at the bar.
Free admission, registration: events@design-museum.de