Thursday, April 13, 2006

modern living


messin' around with mies #1
Originally uploaded by suttonhoo.
“‘Modernism is above all a search for Utopia,’ says Christopher Wilk of the Victoria & Albert Museum, the curator of a new traveling show of designs for kitchens and cars, houses and health spas that were all part of the movement to rebuild a war-ravaged world.

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“The most surprising and resonant part of this exhibition shows how healthy living became a key tenet of Modernism. Designers looked afresh at the human body and sought to turn it into a healthy machine. Architects believed that sunlight, fresh air and uncluttered living spaces would banish the contagions of tuberculosis and flu. This led to new designs for housing, clinics and sanatoria, all featuring flat roofs, balconies and industrially produced plates of clear glass to let in the light.”

From a write up in this week’s Economist re the exhibit: Modernism: Designing a New World, 1914-1939. Travels to the Germany’s MARTA next, and the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington DC after that.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'd love to see that. How long will it be in London? What about DC?

p2wy said...

I saw that in the Economist this week too...methinks a trip to London (or more likely a winter jaunt to Germany) is in order!

suttonhoo said...

looks like it wraps up in London on the 23rd of July, opiliones -- but no insight (that I can find) into how long it will run in the other locations. the V&A website gives a good overview of the exhibit (linked in above) -- including highlights of some of the pieces and info on the designers.

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