Charlotte Perriand: Designer, Photographer, and Activist

The Charlotte Perriand exhibition taking place at Zurich’s Museum for Design is an insightful exploration of one of design’s most innovative women of the last century. Artist, designer, poet, photographer and social activist Charlotte Perriand’s moving works speak to lovers of art and design alike.

Charlotte Perriand (1903 – 1999) worked with a number of artists and designers during her career, most notably, Le Corbusier, Fernand Léger, and Pierre Jeanneret, who was Le Corbusier’s cousin and Perriand’s lover.  In her 20′s Perriand focused mainly on design, creating minimalist tubular steel furniture, developed in partnership with Le Corbusier.  While lovers of design classics are likely to recognize the chaise lounge and chairs she created, Perriand isn’t one of the more recognized names of the period, which makes an exhibition highlighting her contribution to design all the more interesting.

Her inspiring photography of ordinary found objects is also on display.  She found solace and escape in rural environments and natural forms, which is reflected in her photography.  Although she lived in Paris, and her parents were both fashion designers, she enjoyed nature, and spent much of her time climbing, hiking, and skiing.  It was during these quiet moments of contemplation that she collected the raw materials, such as twigs, stones, and hay, that she later photographed, calling it “art brut” or raw art.  These works nicely complimented the scraps of metal she found on the streets of Paris and captured on film. She also turned to more natural materials in her design realizing that many of her works were only affordable for a bourgeoisie elite.  The irony being that today many of her works, which were originally created for factories or other public spaces, sell for a small fortune at auction.

The exhibition includes photomontages she created in the 1930′s, in collaboration with other artists.  The large-scale pieces combine a range of images, statistics and slogans that highlight social concerns of the time.  Indeed, one of the more compelling aspects of Perriand’s work is the social change she sought to bring about.  Perriand’s commitment to social responsibility and environmental sustainability would be forward thinking, even by today’s standards.

The exhibition, co-curated by  Aruther Rüegg, a Swiss architect and architectural historian, runs through the 24th of October.

For your own foray into peaceful surroundings sure to induce a quiet contemplation, spend a few nights at Zurich’s Greulich Hotel.  The design and atmosphere of the hotel are created based on guest’s needs, simple design combined with inspiring views, atmosphere, and service.

Images:

ARTIST IN STUDIO Charlotte Perriand in her studio in Montparnasse, ca. 1934, photo: Pierre Jeanneret, © 2010, ProLitteris, Zurich.

(COW CHAIR) Charlotte Perriand, Fauteuil pivotant, original design 1927, © 2010, ProLitteris, Zurich manufacturer: Cassina 1978, photo: Nicola Zocchi

STUDIO Atelier Perriand, Montparnasse, 1938, photo: Charlotte Perriand, © AChP / 2010, ProLitteris, Zurich

The Greulich Hotel in Zurich – with its newly launched Design District guide – is the perfect spot at which to prepare for a visit to the museum.

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Categories: Zurich, Design, Photography

Contributing writer: Alicia Reuter

New York Legs. Tommy Agriodimas

Legs over the city, legs on the stairs, legs in the bushes – inspired by Guy Bourdin, Tommy Agriodimas’s independent new project “Legs” seeks to capture just those in new and strange settings. As a fashion photographer, Agriodimas has found himself in a number of unusual situations where the opportunity to create a strangely beautiful image presented itself.  He’s captured these provocative parts jutting, stretching, and kicking out of any number of surprising backdrops.   We caught up with him via e-mail with a few questions on the Legs project. Read the rest of this entry »

Lux 11 Berlin. Behind Closed Doors

It all began 3 years ago when Henrik Pfeifer working on a photoshoot for a magazine.  The location? Berlin, Lux 11′s room 308.  Fast-forward to present day and the release of Pfeifer’ s book, simply titled “Room 308.”

During the original magazine shoot, Pfeifer recognized the unique qualities of the room.  Beams of sunlight reached through the space, the TV tower at Alexanderplatz loomed outside windows, just beyond typical East German architecture.  A concept was born.  He wanted to do more than a traditional book of portraits and nudes and that he did.  The resulting book is a colourful mix of friends, celebrities, models, and actors. Communication with his subjects was essential to the project and is evidenced by the intimate moments captured by Pfeifer’s lens.  Whether the subject shaving, jumping, or stretching nude across the bed, mundane moments are authentically  presented in a space that exudes Berlin charm.

The hardcover book is 144 pages and is available on Pfeifer’s website.  Signed copies are still available, but may not be for long.  Why not book a weekend to create your own version of personal portraits at Lux 11?   No matter which room you choose, you’re sure to be inspired.

If you speak or understand German, you can get the background to the project here:

Fast Tube by Casper

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Categories: Berlin, Photography

Contributing writer: Alicia Reuter

Lichtfaktor. Light tagging Cologne

The Cologne collective Lichtfaktor, spearheaded by artists $ehvermögen, beat.surfers and JIAR, is quietly cultivating “light writing”, the latest form of graffiti.  The basic premise of light writing is to take long-term exposure photos of light sources that “draw” an image.  The goals of traditional graffiti and light writing are similar and both strive take it one step further than was previously thought possible.  However the technique is drastically different.  Lichtfaktor “writes” with various light sources while taking a time-lapse photo.  The result is a psychedelic burst of energy across a seemingly empty landscape. Read the rest of this entry »

Gender Check

Gender Check Femininity and Masculinity in Eastern European Art

MUMOK – Museum Moderner Kunst, Vienna

The issue of commemoration almost inevitably produces a quandary.  Where should the focus lay?  On the event itself, historically speaking?  Or on the changes between the time we are marking and our present?

Berlin marked the 20^th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall in November with the fall of a wall of 8-foot dominoes and the music of Bon Jovi.  Gender Check at MUMOK in Vienna, which opened just days later, offers a different opportunity to consider the meaning of the fall of the iron curtain.  Rather than trying to jump in the Delorean with Marty McFly, curator Bojana Pejic and a team of experts from 24 different countries have assembled an exhibition of over 200 artists that examines the progression of gender and gender roles as they have been portrayed in the art of the former soviet block over the last 50 years. With over 400 works including paintings, sculpture, installations, photography, posters, films and videos, the relationship between art and history is woven together thematically as well as chronologically. From the “sexless society” of Socialist Realism and the “unofficial” art that answered its ideology with irony, to the new challenges posed by merging with the west, Gender Check is the first comprehensive exhibition of this, until recently, largely unknown chapter in art history.

Until 14.02.10 at MUMOK, Museumsplatz 1, A-1070 Vienna, a short walk from hotel Hollmann Beletage.