Social Utopias Revisited

Three theoretical works in this exhibition provide a structure for three visual areas: Social Green, Social Transparency, Social Sculpture. Various designs will all represent the various layers and facets of social design since 1900.
In a public programme with lectures, themes from the exhibition will be further explored.

Exhibition, October 4, 2009 - February 14, 2010

What contribution can design make to the future of our society? In the context of current discussions of social design, it seems appropriate to take a look at the past. Already in the transition from the 19th to the 20th century, Germany and the Netherlands in particular were the site of a growing number of attempts to critically review everyday culture, industrial culture, and even the totality of life ‘from sofa cushion to urban design’ (Herman Muthesius). With regard to this fundamental questioning of traditional styles of life and living, there is a resemblance between the fins-de-siècle of 1900 and 2000. The retrospective perspective on which the exhibition Unresolved Matters is based is not, however, intended as a simplistic ‘learning from history’. Instead, it follows on from the question of to what extent a society can discover its potential, evolve, and reflect on it.

Three books – Ebenezer Howard, Garden Cities of To-morrow (1898); Siegfried Giedion, Befreites Wohnen (1929); Victor Papanek, Design for the Real World (1971) – provide a structure for three visual areas: Social Green, Social Transparency, Social Sculpture. Chair designs from
Thonet to Castiglioni, glass from A.D. Copier to Wilhelm Wagenfeld, fashion from Henry van de Velde via Johannes Itten to paper clothing, multiples by Joseph Beuys, utopian designs by Haus-Rucker-Co or Archigram, Earth Cloth by El Anatsui, conceptual works of Stephen Willats, will all represent the various layers and facets of social design since 1900.

The soundscape in the exhibition has been made possible by parts from the 'historic radio programme OVT of the VPRO'.

Curators: Claudia Banz, Hendrikje Loof (assistant)
Exhibition Design: EventArchitectuur: Herman Verkerk & Paul Kuipers
Graphic Design: Metahaven: Daniel van der Velden, Vinca Kruk, Gon Zifroni with Femke Herregraven