Bordeaux Museum Takes Design to its Natural Habitat For New Show
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The Musée des arts décoratifs et du design in Bordeaux and its collaborating partner Centre national des arts plastiques (Cnap) are departing from conventional exhibition-making this fall, and venturing into the realm of the sophisticated home for their ne
Bordeaux Museum Takes Design to its Natural Habitat For New Show
The Musée des arts décoratifs et du design in Bordeaux and its collaborating partner Centre national des arts plastiques (Cnap) are departing from conventional exhibition-making this fall, and venturing into the realm of the sophisticated home for their new show—with no fear of the spectacular.“Houselife”, as the exhibition is titled, will present more than 300 pieces from the Cnap’s National Contemporary Art Collection, one of the finest and largest in Europe, with works by more than 160 French and international designers, in two luxurious settings: the Maison Lemoine, a private residence built by Rem Koolhaas/Oma, located just outside of the Bordeaux city-center; and the Hôtel de Lalande, a Bordeaux family mansion from the mid-18th-century, which though re-used several times and hosting the Musée des arts decoratifs today, continues to exude the grandezza and splendor of an aristocratic residence.Designs by Eero Aarnio, Philippe Starck, Ron Arad, and Jasper Morrison, as well as younger talents such as Jaime Hayon, Patricia Urquiola, or the Campana Brothers, to name but a tiny fraction, will be placed in the surroundings they were created and intended for: the domestic space. At the same time, the contrasting contextual backgrounds of the contemporary and historical architectures intend to accentuate the multiple facets and characteristics of the presented works, thus showcasing design’s ability to transform itself and its surroundings.The exhibition’s curators Constance Rubini and Juliette Pollet have created a dialog between architecture and design, history and styles, placing every object with utmost care and deliberation, as their project abstracts reveal. The description of the setup for an intimate boudoir at the Hôtel de Lalande, for example, reads like a mis-en-scène directive: “In this small, feminine salon, the presence of an ‘Antibodi’ chaise longue by Patricia Urquiola evokes a moment of relaxation. Books placed on the ‘R.T.W.’ bookshelf by Ron Arad, an open Louis XVI bed linen cupboard, the ‘Duplex’ aquarium by Constance Guisset, let us imagine this room in a light and care-free atmosphere,” they explain. Meanwhile, “upstairs, a comfortable armchair by Inga Sempé is displayed in the Cabinet des singeries, now transformed into a wardrobe and dressing room. Its fuchsia fabric echoes the pink silk which dresses the furniture in which various feminine accessories are placed, including the ‘Narziss’ hairbrush by Judith Seng. Opposite the armchair, the evanescent form of the ‘Kokon’ piece of furniture by Jurgen Bey evokes that of the dressing table which could have been found in this room. After visiting the daffodil yellow room, the bathroom, immense and luxuriously comfortable with its Bouroullec furniture, appears like a reminiscence of an era where one had time … and space.”While historical decadence and atmospheric pairings of styles dominate the exhibition section at the Hôtel de Lalande, the section at Maison Lemoine will respond to Koolhaas’ airy and purist aesthetic with around 60 carefully curated objects on view in the upstairs “main room” (the rest of the house will remain in regular use throughout the exhibition). Here, “The ‘Bulle’ armchair by Eero Aarnio [will be] suspended in the space, just opposite the occuli drawn on the white plastic curtain by Petra Blaisse, and the hammock by Bless, in front of a bay window, floats among the grasses and trees of the garden,” while “a choice of vases, in glass and metal [will be] displayed on the platform placed on a stand for the occasion. At the center of this beautiful space without walls, they take their place naturally in this early autumn landscape still flowering from the summer.”Much as the curators aim to create stylized—and lavish—still lives of design, their primordial goal with this new concept remains to avoid presenting design from a purely aesthetical point of view, as is often the case in museum-based shows. According to a statement issued for the exhibition, it is all about the works’ functional qualities in ‘real life’.“Houselife. Collection Design from the Cnap at the Madd Bordeaux” will run from September 24, 2016 to January 29, 2017, at Musée des art décoratifs et design, Bordeaux, France. Click here for more information. Click here for more information on the Centre national des arts plastiques (Cnap), and click here for access to the online archive of the National Contemporary Art Collection.See a preview in the slide show. Read more
