The Month Ahead: Alvar Aalto, Thomas Heatherwick, and The Postmodern Moment this September
September
This is the first of the “Month Ahead” series in which Artsy’s design specialists will round up noteworthy shows, news, and other happenings in the design and architecture communities.
OPENING / CLOSING
Across the U.S.:
New York
Last call to see the Living’s Hy-Fi (made from mushroom bricks!), the 15th Young Architects Program installation in the courtyard of MoMA PS1, on view through September 6th.
Back in midtown, and closing September 29, the Museum of Modern Art’s “Ray Johnson Designs” assembles the wonderful, whimsical graphic material that Johnson mailed to MoMA for over 40 years until his death in 1995.
A new collection by interior designer and architect William T. Georgis debuts at Maison Gerard on September 10th.
In TriBeCa, “RO/LU : Surfaces On Which Your Setting And Sitting Will Be Uncertain” reveals inspiration from Superstudio’s “Quaderna” series, environmental installations by Ettore Sottsass, and Scott Burton and James Lee Byars’ utilization of man as a symbol (opens on September 4th at Patrick Parrish in New York).
Only a few blocks away, guest curator Steven Volpe’s “(dec)curation” opens on September 16th at R & Company in New York.
Imagine a radically different Times Square with the exhibition “TIMES SQUARE, 1984: The Postmodern Moment” at the Skyscraper Museum in Manhattan.
Meanwhile, Sebastian Errazuriz scores a hat trick: On September 12th the designer is celebrated at two openings in New York, at Salon 94 and Cristina Grajales, while his exhibition at Carnegie Museum of Art (in Pittsburgh) opens September 6th.
St. Louis
Explore the early work of some of the biggest names in architecture—Frank Gehry, Zaha Hadid, Rem Koolhaas and more—at the The Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum’s exhibition “Drawing Ambience: Alvin Boyarsky and the Architectural Association,” which opens September 12th (via Co.DESIGN).
Chicago
Between 1919 and 1920, Bruno Taut set in motion a now-lionized letter-writing project known as the Crystal Chain. “FUTURE TROPES,” opening on September 5th at Chicago’s Volume Gallery, borrows these principles and features the work of Tanya Aguiñiga, Jonathan Muecke, Jonathan Olivares, Leon Ransmeier, RO/LU, and Anders Ruhwald, and examines both the now and then.
Dallas
Revered British designer Thomas Heatherwick is coming to the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas. “Provocations: The Architecture and Design of Heatherwick Studio” opens September 13th.
Further afield:
London
“Constructing Worlds: Photography and Architecture in the Modern World” opens at the Barbican September 25th.
Weil am Rhein
The Vitra Design Museum presents “Alvar Aalto” a comprehensive picture of the revered Finnish architect and designer; opens September 27th.
Paris
New York-based gallery Todd Merrill Studio Contemporary takes their show on the road: “Paul Evans and Joseph Walsh: Two Masters” opens at Paris auction house Tajan; the show runs September 8th–20th.
Yonel Lebovici goes big at Chastel-Marechal in Paris; opens September 5th.
Galerie BSL opens a second location in Paris, Rive Gauche, September 4th, at 10 rue Bonaparte in the 6th arrondissement, between the Ecole des Beaux-Arts and the Seine.
Brussels
Playful new works by David Bielander are featured in “Far out, Brussels Sprout!” at Caroline Van Hoek in Brussels
IN THE NEWS
Remembering Deborah Sussman via The New York Timesand The Design Observer.
Download and read groundbreaking Bauhaus texts—on László Moholy-Nagy, Wassily Kandinsky, Walter Gropius, Kasimir Malevich, and more—newly digitized by the Centre Pompidou’s Bibliothèque Kandinsky. (via Co.DESIGN)
Need a vacation after Labor Day weekend? Artists Helen and Brice Marden have designed a boutique hotel in upstate New York.
Devour the latest from Maharam Stories with Alice Rawsthorn’s “Franco Albini’s ‘A Room for a Man’” and Anthony Atlas’s “Pale Light: Samuel Beckett & Painting.”
EVENTS
From September 13th–21st, London will be immersed in design. With over 300 events this year, The London Design Festival showcases the breadth of design in a citywide celebration. Visit this link for a full list of events.
To honor the recent passing of celebrated graphic designer Massimo Vignelli, Knoll is hosting a panel discussion with photographer Jon Naar, Michael Bierut, and Suzanne Stephans, Deputy Editor of Architectural Record. “Jon Naar’s Photographic Love Affair with Massimo Vignelli” will be held on Thursday, September 18, 6:15 PM, at Knoll New York. (via Knoll)
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