Maarten Baas is worth your Time at DDW 2016

What starts as a retrospective exhibition of Maarten Baas’ work fast turns into exhibition in sync with his, probably so far most famous project, “Real Time”. With the support of other fellow artists such as Iris van Herpen and Theo Jansen, Maarten Baas makes a strong point on perception of time, be it real or unreal, and its content. A well deserved applause from the visitors of the Dutch Design Week 2016 at the VDMA building in Eindhoven.

See more of his works at maartenbaas.com

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DAE Graduation Show at Dutch Design Week 2016 : what we learned we shall not forget

My review on the Design Academy Eindhoven Graduation Show 2016 as part of Dutch Design Week 22-30 Oct 2016.

Ironically the title of the show leads to the heart of the problem consciously so or not. “In need of … “. For it has everything but content.

The everlasting spirit of modernism hasn’t left the building, the teachers nor the students and their work. Recycled ideas of recycling and design denial. The exhibition predicts a dutch design in ashes.
Nevertheless, however the poorness of quality projects or lack of innovative and fresh ideas, the show is considered a success by its own standards.
Dutch design keeps sustaining itself on the shoulders of its predecessors and their rich benefactors. Still the future actors of dutch design seem to have learned only one thing – namely how to sell. You will probably never encounter an art / design educational institution exhibition with so much commercialism and ego. Each project is for sale, before even being developed.
A necessary skill no doubt, but so is good design concepts and they seem to be on extinction in DAE.

La Biennale di Venezia 2016 : Reporting from a single front

My impressions from the Venice architectural biennale 2016, curated by Alejandro Aravena with the topic “Reporting from the Front”.

On the one hand the exhibition had understandably very positive reaction – after all for the first time in a very long time the biennale was addressing topics ..which would make us feel better bout ourselves simply discussing it. It was very political, but at the same time not political at all – too vague to give solutions and still to elitarian. On diplay were solutions to problems which the general public wasn’t fully aware of – partially also responsibility of the exhibition. 

On the other hand it killed all dreams. the biennale should be that one exhibition which gathers all architects from around the world and inspires them for a new year of creativity and bold ideas despite the harsh reality of contractors, budget and… lets face it – gravity.