THIS EXHIBITION WHOSE STAR IS THE CHAIR
The GRASSI Museum of Applied Arts presents one of the world's largest private collections of chairs, on view until October 6. A rich catalog of creations by over 100 artists, designers and architects, from the 1960s to the present day.
Acumen takes you on a journey through the collection.
The GRASSI Museum of Applied Arts celebrates its 150th anniversary. For an anniversary like this, you have to pull out all the stops. So, to celebrate its century and a half, the museum based in Leipzig, Germany, is presenting a selection from the collection of Geneva entrepreneur and collector Thierry Barbier-Mueller. Thierry Barbier-Mueller, who died in 2023, had built up an extraordinary collection of some 650 innovative and unusual chairs since the late 1990s, closer to sculpture than to everyday furniture. Fascinated by the talent of design personalities such as Ron Arad and Tom Dixon, the collector has built up his armada through encounters, discoveries and travels.
In his book The Spirit of Chairs, published by Lars Müller Publishers, Thierry Barbier-Mueller declares: " First of all, I'd like to confess that I had no intention of building up a collection in the first place. My first purchase of a designer chair - was it André Dubreuil? Ron Arad? Tom Dixon? - was like an imperative, then followed by another, then another, like a thread that you pull and unwind slowly at first, with curiosity and caution, then with increasing speed, faster and faster, and finally, with conviction and frenzy. " Still in the same book, he adds: " The years have taught me [...] that sharing with other art lovers and enthusiasts, sincerely and with simplicity, is neither pride nor worldly vanity, but rather contributes to giving life to the works I have chosen to preserve. And that the resonance produced by these exchanges also enriches my life. "
In addition to a large number of one-off pieces, this corpus also includes prototypes and limited edition creations. Works chosen for their uniqueness and innovative character, their plasticity, materiality or even the humor that emanates from them. In addition to those already mentioned, the big names include designers Maarten Baas, Humberto and Fernando Campana, Richard Hutten, Xavier Lust, Enzo Mari, Ingo Maurer, Jasper Morrison, Nathalie du Pasquier and Oki Sato, as well as designers and architects Michele de Lucchi, Alessandro Mendini, Frank Gehry and Gaetano Pesce, and artists such as Donald Judd, Isamu Noguchi and Niki de Saint Phalle.
For the exhibition of this unique collection, comprising a selection of some 140 pieces, a presentation of the same calibre was essential. Director and playwright Robert Wilson has designed an exceptional scenography, in which the seats are seen as the protagonists of an artistic performance, or more precisely, an opera whose acts are conceived as different spaces. The first, "Kaleidoscope Space", is a cube whose walls are lined with mirrors, while the second, "Dark Space", takes us into a dark, hushed room where spotlights reveal the most remarkable pieces in the collection. Medium Space", inspired by Mies van der Rohe's Barcelona pavilion, is structured by semi-transparent walls, featuring chairs with strong architectural features. Finally, "Bright Space" showcases the collection's most colorful creations, displayed on simulated islands.
A delightful anthology of seating designs highlighting this design landmark, sure to delight all fans of the discipline.
" A CHAIR AND YOU"
GRASSI MUSEUM OF APPLIED ARTS
JOHANNISPLATZ 5-11, LEIPZIG (GERMANY)
UNTIL OCTOBER 6, 2024
GRASSIMAK.DE
