Topic
The research project aims to explore current methods of planning and producing furniture in the contexts of art and design. Techniques of appropriation between these fields should be made visible through the transdisciplinary project’s structure with its links to studies in art, design, architecture and sociology.
Art and design
It has been possible to talk about processes of appropriation between art and design since the modern concept of the autonomy of art made necessary a distinction between the two. Despite the strict distinction between art and design made during this process of art’s emancipation, numerous artists and designers have tried to acculturate ideas between these distinct fields of visual culture. The demarcation between art and design has not only been shaped by merely theoretical considerations, but has also been fundamentally marked by opposing educational policies as well as economic influences. As a result, it does not seem particularly fruitful or productive to simply take notice of the possibly “dissolving boundaries” between design and art, but rather to inquire and explore the shifts in the conception of “function” and the position of art- or design-objects today.
Furniture
Since the project began, an emphasis on the topic of furniture design and production has turned out to be a very helpful in making visible transfers between the contexts of art and design. By using this focus as the main guideline for further research, one could examine close relationships between concepts of function, human relations to objects, lifestyles, and visual phenomena. After artists like Tobias Rehberger, Jorge Pardo or N55 produced functional and even usable objects of furniture in the 1990s, a younger generation of artists like Florian Slotawa, Tom Burr or Thea Djordjadze now seems to be exploring visual options of a possible use rather than making actual furniture. Considering the symbiotic term “Design-Art“ that British art critic Alex Coles introduced as a comment on works like Jorge Pardo’s lounge environments, recent developments like Florian Slotawa’s dysfunctional furniture fragments might be regarded instead as “Art on Design“.
Current processes in art and design
The discussion on contemporary product and graphic design is increasingly dominated by voices calling for functional indeterminacy and for design as a critical practice. With their open-purpose objects, French designers Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec have approached ambiguous customer behaviour and fundamental changes in the concept of function. “We like the large-volume production, we like the notion of establishing a form without knowing what will happen with the single object,” the Bourellec-brothers argued in a 2007 interview, “In the field of industrial design one cannot control what will actually happen with these products, while an artwork - normally there is only one example of it - has a pretty tyrannic character.” The declared principle of the “Algae“ that can be purchased in a pack of 6 or 50 pieces is the open purpose of the object, which recalls the artistic tradition of a limited edition rather than functional furniture. Many designers now seem to be handing over creative control to active consumers - very much in contrast to the overall “corporate look“ of the 1990s. The field of individual appropriation becomes the actual process of design, for instance when ready-mades from large-volume production are reinterpreted into special design objects in Frederic Dedelley’s work. Dealing with mutual influences and techniques of appropriation in furniture concepts between contemporary design and art, the research project will provide a closer look at open-purpose or critical design on the one hand and fragmentary, non-functional furniture in art on the other.
Besides the research group’s work with designers and artists in interviews and the analysis of their visual documentation, there are two public events planned for 2009: A workshop in July and a symposium in November. This first step of the research project in 2009 will give rise to concepts for a subsequent publication, an exhibition in 2011.