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by Samuel Emmet Over the weekend, scores of art students and gallery-goers descended on Providence’s Rhode Island Convention Center to see the 2014 Rhode Island School of Design’s (RISD) Annual Graduate Thesis Exhibition. The Convention Center, a…

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Milan 2014: Dutch designer Maarten Baas‘s circus-themed show at Milan design week, featuring a welded metal gum ball machine and modified arcade game, was created to “emphasise the circus that Milan is” (+ slideshow + interview).

Baas‘s show was installed in an empty garage in the new 5 VIE design district during the Salone Internazionale del Mobile, which took place from 8 to 13 April.

Visitors followed a red carpet that led them through a presentation with fairground music and surreal objects created specifically for the event, as well as some of the designer’s latest work for clients and galleries.

“The starting point was to emphasise the circus that Milan is,” Baas told Dezeen, adding that the event has become more about presenting photogenic objects for promotional purposes than retail-ready products.

“It hardly makes sense to develop a piece from A to Z and then present it in Milan because in the end it’s nothing more than a snapshot for sharing on Facebook, and the product is never sold even though it’s widely published,” he said.

Baas and his team spent three weeks in Milan producing pieces for the exhibition, many of which were deliberately fabricated to look good in photographs, but were, in fact, very roughly finished.

These pieces included a chair with a randomly shaped seat upholstered in a red fabric that was held together at the back with sticky tape.

To enhance the idea of creative freedom and that “everything was possible”, Baas exhibited new limited edition works for London and Paris gallery Carpenters Workshop Gallery alongside pieces made from polystyrene that were thrown out after the fair.

To tie in with the circus theme, Baas replaced the playful seats of rocking rides commonly found at fairgrounds or shopping malls with a range of adulterated alternatives including a welded metal box, an upholstered four-legged creature and a foil-covered blob embellished with coloured lights.

Inside two booths built against the walls of the exhibition space, actors dressed as clowns sat surrounded by everyday paraphernalia, representing Baas’s recent collaborations with Dutch theatre group De Kwekerij.

A gumball machine in Baas’s cartoon-like style dispensed oversized pills instead of sweets, while chairs and lamp shades were presented on a carousel with a stripy tree at its centre.

Summarising his thoughts on the overwhelming volume of products launched by design brands in Milan and the reason for his own avant-garde presentation, Baas said: “for the visitor [to Milan], your whole critical system is kind of wobbling in the end – you kind of swallow everything and that’s what I wanted to break open.”

The exhibition was coproduced by Ventura Projects, the organisation behind the Ventura Lambrate design district. It was presented alongside a separate show dedicated to the work of designers and companies with whom Baas collaborates, including Den Herder Production, Bertjan Pot and Nightshop.

Photography is by Kazoe van den Dobbelsteen.

Here’s an edited version of Dezeen’s interview with Maarten Baas:

Marcus Fairs: Tell us about the show you’ve set up in Milan.

Maarten Baas: In the Circus there’s a lot that reflects my ideas. The starting point was to emphasise the circus that Milan is and also that things are very much about showing nice pictures. It hardly makes sense to develop a piece from A to Z and then present it in Milan because in the end it’s nothing more than a snapshot to share on Facebook or whatever. And then the product is never sold, even though it’s widely published. So I think it’s not needed to develop the product totally. So I made a lot of improvised pieces that look good from one side and are taped together from the back side in order to anticipate that way or working.

That’s one thing and another thing that was important was that it was so crazy, I wanted to get rid of all the critical voices in your head saying “This is not done!” “You cannot do this!” All the things that in the creative process are blocking your creativity. I threw it all out, all the ideas, I put bronze next to polystyrene pieces, very expensive €40,000 pieces next to things that we are going to throw in the garbage after the fair. We cut a Bambi in half and made a trophy out of it, we made a rocket going through the sky, everything was possible and I wanted to explode all those ideas.

Also for the visitor, your whole critical system is wobbling in the end. You kind of swallow everything. That’s what I want to break open.

Marcus Fairs: Describe the show for people who haven’t seen it.

Maarten Baas: We’re here close to the Duomo, five minutes walk from the Duomo. I always like to be not in the popular zones. This is a new zone called 5VIE and it’s a kind of garage. Since I’ve put a circus in it you could say it’s a circus tent. It’s an open space where I put all my pieces around a red catwalk carpet. You walk in one direction and go around all the pieces in a certain order and then you go out having seen the entertaining show.

Marcus Fairs: You have some kiosks with actors dressed as clowns in them.

Maarten Baas: I collaborated a lot this year with other artists, other designers but also theatre people. Also last year I designed a set for a theatre play in Holland. I see design in the widest sense of the word as anything that is creative in whatever way and where the creativity becomes reality or hits the market. I want to use design as a platform where everything like that can happen. So theatre and music and all kinds of things that are somehow connected.

The post Maarten Baas’s surreal solo show created to
“emphasise the circus that Milan is” appeared first on Dezeen.

William S. Burroughs (1914-1997) was not inclined to share the frame. He made exceptions for things he adored, including cigarettes, cats, guns, and pretty much anything that connoted or denoted danger. Artist Kate Simon photographed the Beat writer over two decades, from 1975 to 1995, and an exhibition of her portraits is on view through May 9 at the London shop of Nick Knight‘s Showstudio. The below video focuses on one shot of Burroughs, with gun, as part of a series of interviews with Simon by SHOWstudio Shop’s associate director Niamh White.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

The timber and stone buildings of Gion A Caminada, a cult figure in Swiss architecture, will feature in an exhibition opening next month at the House of Art in the Czech city of České Budějovice (+ slideshow).

Hailing from Graubünden, the same Swiss canton as fellow architect Peter Zumthor, Gion A Caminada has built little outside of his native region and instead focussed much of his life’s work on the village of Vrin, where he established his studio in the late 1970s.

Both the population and the economy of the village were in serious decline, so Caminada set about providing infrastructure that would help it to thrive again. These projects include the Klosterhof Salaplauna farming facility and the Mehrzweckhalle public sports hall.

Initally trained as a carpenter and cabinet-maker, the architect also designed a series of houses aimed at combining traditional constructions with modern detailing. Examples of these include Haus Walpen in Blatten, Haus Caviezel in Vrin and his own home, Haus Caminada.

The exhibition, entitled Creating Places, will offer a retrospective of Caminada’s career to date, compiled by the architect alongside curator Michal Škoda.

“The aspect of my architecture that I am interested in is the discussion with the local tradition,” said Caminada, who currently works as an architecture professor at ETH Zurich.

“I pose a question to myself what those old architectural systems may give us,” he continued. “Where is the substance of those constructions? How can they be transformed for new kinds of use to meet the requirements of the present time?”

Other projects featured will include Aussichtsturm Reussdelta – an observation tower for ornithologists – and Waldhuette, a school classroom contained within a woodland cabin.

The exhibition opens at the House of Art’s contemporary art and architecture gallery on 7 May and will run until 15 June.

Here’s some more information about the exhibition:

Gion A Caminada – Creating Places

“The aspect of my architecture that I am interested in is the discussion with the local tradition. I pose a question to myself what those old architectural systems may give us. Where is the substance of those constructions? How can they be transformed for the new kinds use to meet the requirements of the present time? It is always the matter of discussion and a new development. I believe that it is the core of tradition of the entire village.”

These are the words of the Swiss architect Gion A Caminada, whose exhibition was prepared by the Gallery of Contemporary Art and Architecture of the House of Art in České Budějovice for May and June this year.

In the late 1970s, Caminada appeared with a project of improving the development and functioning of the village. And Vrin became the place that Caminada focused a major part of his lifelong effort on. Nowadays, with the benefit of hindsight, we can state that certain ideas and proposals of Caminada’s have not remained at the level of considerations only, which is proved by an essential change on the place mentioned.

Vrin, a village that was dying, both in terms of population and economy, started to change in a number of respects. People stopped moving away, and a number of communal and private buildings, as well as modern farming constructions enabling a contemporary manner of cultivating land, were built. All of this was achieved without a conflict with the traditional nature of the village. Traditions and the cultural heritage were linked with new, up-to-date needs. Another proof of the well-chosen way is that Vrin was the first village to be awarded the Wakker Prize of the Swiss Heritage Society.

In Caminada’s work, architecture also plays a social role. It is happy and beautiful only if the tension between tradition and modern ways bring attractive solutions and if its function is linked with a way of life.

Caminada based his work on the presumption that houses have to reflect people’s stories, and that architecture is an interdisciplinary field, while technology is merely its complement. He uses contemporary means to imprint a traditional appearance to the Alpine environment. However, at the same time, he admits that architecture is becoming a political issue to an increasing degree. The designer has to overcome a number of obstacles related to politics. This is what he partly views as the weak point of contemporary architecture, which has forgotten to solve problems.

Caminada focuses his interest on the countryside/periphery. He characterises it as the domesticated countryside. Although this area once received a generous support from the Swiss government, this support started to fade away as the government decided to support centres/catchment towns and large villages, which are supposed to influence and inspire the periphery. However, is he convinced that proceeding in the opposite direction is correct. He assumes that this way would, on the contrary bring about an increase in the number of abandoned villages.

He is very particular about tradition and continuity in his work, not only about the picture. His constructions communicate in a comprehensible language, giving priority to their own function. It places a great emphasis on details while studying further possibilities of traditional constructions and trying to find ways towards a perfect model of the timbered house.

We can talk about architecture with a reflection of the original culture, with respect to a particular place, which is not only a romantic area, but also a countryside with whims of the weather.

This exhibition that Caminada prepared specially for the Gallery in České Budějovice focuses on the subject of The Creation of Places. At this venue, it deals with a particular architectonic object to a lesser extent, but gives more attention to the idea of how a place could be strengthened in its broadest reality. The exhibition is divided into five parts, and visitors may see both the village of Vrin and the relationships between objects and the countryside, and the place of Caminada’s next place of work – the ETH Zurich.

Gion Antoni Caminada lives in the village of Vrin, in the Swiss canton of Graubünden. First, he learned the trade of carpenter and cabinet maker and then he attended a school of applied arts. After gaining experience on his travels he graduated from the ETH Zurich, the Department of Architecture, where he currently works as a professor. In the late 1970s, he returned to his native village of Vrin, founded his own office, and is also politically active there. Most of his realised works that focus on optimising the functioning of the village are situated at Vrin and its surroundings. He is interested in discussions with the local building tradition, and seeks possibilities of employing old building constructions in modern architecture. To realise his constructions he uses traditional local materials wood and stone.

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Swiss architect Gion A Caminada appeared first on Dezeen.