Triennale Design Museum presents O’Clock. time design, design time, curated by Silvana Annicchiarico and Jan van Rossem, with a special exhibition design by Patricia Urquiola, a great exhibition which will try to explore the relations between time and design. The exhibition is organised in partnership with the luxury watch brand Officine Panerai, which, at the opening ceremony, will present an installation about the design of its watches.
While figurative art, cinema and photography have developed a long, in-depth reflection about time; design has instead often addressed the subject by merely confining it to the categories of accuracy, measurability and functionality. Yet, the relations between time and design are much more complex and can reveal surprising perspectives, both aesthetically and functionally.
A wide selection of site-specific works, installations, designer items, works of art, videos by international artists and designers will try to answer such questions as: “How can time be measured?”, “How can passing time be shown?”, “How can time be experienced?”. All exhibits address such topics as the passing of time, ever-changing time, perishing, sometimes funnily, sometimes poetically, sometimes meditatively and critically.
The exhibition path starts with two distinct modes of use: a “normal” entrance and a “fast track” entrance. The concept of the “fast track” derives from first-hand experience of airports: a privileged track, a sort of “fast lane,” which, transposed into an exhibition, can become paradoxical. The “privileged” experience offered by the “fast track” is reversed. Though it means moving at a fast pace it will not allow visitors to get full enjoyment out of the exhibition experience, which will remain partial. Those who choose the “fast track” will not see the exhibition in its entirety, but a rapid summary of it.
The “fast track” is a reference to what time is for contemporary mankind, who continually “fight against time” to keep up with everything that society demands of them.
The exhibition is articulated as three sections. The first deals with the measurement of time. It creates an interplay between perceptions and visions into a dark space enlivened by artificial lights, where the floor and walls become one and the objects are suspended on broken grids. The second section deals with objects that traverse time and the theme of time travel. The relation established between the works and natural light is important. The light changes with the different times of day and the seasons, creating an effect of “temporariness”. The works are freer, without a structural link between them and are presented on very spare, minimal display supports.
The third section is devoted to the representation of time through a series of limbos which serve as the settings for small scenes, small theatres, in which the objects interact with each other. The various objects are visible only once the limbos themselves have been passed. Visitors therefore have to look back to see the works. In this way the limbos annul the spatial coordinates while the lighting again becomes artificial. At the end of the path an interactive common space is laid out, where people can leave a sign of their experience, of their intervention in time.
The exhibition “O’Clock. time design, design time” is organized in partnership with Officine Panerai, the Italian fine watch-making brand that during the 1930s and 1940s created two of the international icons of time design: the Luminor and the Radiomir. For the inauguration of the exhibition, Patricia Urquiola has created the installation “I mondi di Officine Panerai” (The worlds of Officine Panerai) which, using poetry and creativity, displays the characteristics of Panerai watches, highlighting their unique design through eight historic and contemporary models. The Panerai installation will be open to the public from 11th to 23rd October 2011.
Panerai watches are also the protagonists of two of the most eagerly anticipated new works among those on display: the world premiere of new works by British artist Damien Hirst, who has used Panerai dials to create Beautiful Sunflower Panerai Painting and Beautiful Fractional Sunflower Panerai Painting, two works created with the spin painting technique.
O’Clock time design, design time
11 October 2011 – 8 January 2012
Triennale di Milano
Curated by Silvana Annicchiarico and Jan van Rossem
Exhibition and graphic design: Patricia Urquiola
Catalogue: Electa
Opening hours:
Tuesdays-Sundays 10.30-20.30
Thursdays-Fridays 10.30-23.00
Triennale Design Museum
viale Alemagna 6
ph. 02 724341
fax 02 89010693
www.triennaledesignmuseum.org
Complete list of works on display: Darren Almond, Xavier Antin, Thorunn Arnadottir, Maarten Baas, Stefano Baccari, Carlo Bach, BCXSY Design (Boaz Cohen, Sayaka Yamamoto), Julien Berthier, Biegert&Funk (Marco Biegert, Andreas Funk), Louise Bourgeois, Boym Partners Inc (Constantin Boym, Laurene Leon Boym), BreadedEscalope (Sascha Mikel, Martin Schnabl, Michael Tatschl), Fernando Brizio, Dongjin Byeon, John Cage, DEIS Bologna (Federico Tombari, Samuele Salti, Alessandro Franchi), Oscar Diaz, Alessandro Del Grosso, Natalie Duckett, Alicia Eggert, Fabrica, Dante Ferro Lorenzo, Mike Fleming, Mark Formanek, Patrick Frey, Front Design (Sofia Lagerkvist, Anna Lindgren, Charlotte Von der Lancken), Nadine Grenier, Martí Guixé, Susanna Hertrich, Damien Hirst, Oscar Honeyman-Novotny, Humans since 1982 (Bastian Bischoff, Per Emanuelsson), Joevelluto, Noah Kalina, Albin Karlsson, Asif Khan, Sakiko Kohash, Nicolas Le Moigne, Mathieu Lehanneur, Kevin Macdonald, Georgios Maridakis, Jamie McMahon, Mist-o (Noa Ikeuchi, Tommaso Nani), Maurizio Montalti, Sander Mulder, Luca Nichetto, Pernilla Ohrstedt, Kouichi Okamoto, Lorenzo Palmeri, Bertrand Planes, Christiaan Postma, Davide Preti, Corinne Quin, Eske Rex, Eva Rielland, Michael Sans, Sovrappensiero Design Studio, Spigoli Vivi (Andrea Bartolucci, Leonardo Fortino), Stefan Strumbel, Studio Glithero (Tim Simpson, Sarah Van Gameren), Studio mischer‘traxler (Katharina Mischer, Thomas Traxler), Studio Wieki Somers (Wieki Somers, Dylan Van de Berg), Carlo e Benedetta Tamborini, Ignacio Uriarte, Patricia Urquiola, Joost Van Bleiswijk, Kiki Van Eijk, Maxim Velčovský, VINTA (Kohei Okamoto, Tomohiro Yamaguchi, Toshitaka Nakamura), Marcel Wanders, João Wilbert, Siren Elise Wilhelmsen, Bethan Laura Wood, Tristan Zimmermann.
