Exhibition Visits

The Design Museum

'The Future Is Here'

'The Future is Here' exhibiton at The Design Museum explains how modern technology is altering the world. This exhibition shows the modernisation of objects and futuristic ideas that may change the way we see the designed world.

Whilst I was at the exhibiton I took a range of photographs to show the various types of objects and inventions that had been designed, I found these very unusual but also very futuristic and modern. The next three photographs show some of the designs that caught my eye because I found them quite striking.

'Unto This Last'

Is the name of this selection of objects, this photo shows Bespoke furniture made using digital technology. I think this shows how technology has progressed by allowing you to see how actual objects such as chairs and childrens toys can be made by digital technology.

'Project DNA'

This picture shows a corset designed by Catherine Wales and is produced using white nylon and a 3D printer. I feel that this design has a very futuristic impression due to its complexity and the use of the nylon that creates a rather wired type look. I think that this modern look can be compared to some of the outfits featured in Harrison Ford's 'Blade Runner' as they are also very flamboyant and bold.

 
'Endless Flow Rocking Chair'

Designed by Dirk Vander Kooij is another unusual object that caught my eye in the exhibition. The brightness of the colours and the different design attracts you to it because it is not what you would think a rocking chair would normally look like, as I find they look old fashioned whereas here the design is very modern.

I found the exhibition of 'The Future Is Here' unusual because of the extravagant designs of some of the objects and the thought process behind them. I also found it very iteresting to look at these objects and how in the future these mass produced rather than just the one off creations found within this exhibition. I found it difficult to understand some of the concepts of the ideas because they did not seem very realistic, for example, 'The Optimist Toaster' that changes into something new when it can no longer be used as a toaster.

The Serpentine Gallery Pavilion

Designed by Sou Fujimoto, is a temporary structure for the Serpentine Gallery. It is a classic and innovative installation of art consisting of white metal and glass which creates a fresh look that is surrounded by the greeness of Hyde Park. It shows the modernistic styles of present architecture and I found it was very different and unsual with a futristic feel. Although it looks to be quite simplistic, the geometric shapes and framework create a complex structure along with the reflective glass circles found at a height. The next photographs show two different perspectives of the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion.

 

The V&A

'Making It Up: Photographic Fictions'

This display shows work by some of the earliest and most recent photographers who use photography to tell a story or depict a memory. It shows how some have used staged settings to portray a story and how others have left space for the viewers imagination/how they swee the photograph. I found this display of photographs very interesting to look at because there was such a variety of images.

 
'Action Photo I (After Hans Namuth); Pictures Of Chocolate'This photograph was taken by Vik Muniz in 1997. He recreates images from his memory by using various items, for example, this photo has been recreated using chocolate sauce and syrup and is of the painter, Jackson Pollock, at work. Muniz then uses a method called dye destruction for printing his photographs. This was my favourite photo in this exhibiton because it was such an unconventional way to present an image, using material that you would not think to use or would work.

'Urban Fiction, No. 23'

Taken by Xing Danwen in 2005; it is a colour photograph showing a model building. This image is one of a series and in this photograph the photographer (Danwen) has digitally inserted herself into the scene. I like this image because of the clarity and use of a shallow depth of field and also the way she has portrayed a feeling/sense of loneliness due to the lack of people in the shot. I also think there is a quite spooky mood to the image because of the darkness that surrounds the buildings. 

'No. 2: Childhood, No. 4: As An Eligible Bachelor, No. 5: Meets His Match, No. 6: The Marriage, No. 8: Breakfast scene, No. 9: Sometime After the Marriage'From the series 'A Rake's Progress' (1986) by Andy Wiener. These photographs refer to William Hogarth's series of paintings about the downfall of a rich merchant's son who wastes his money and finsihes his life in Bedlam. I find these pictures to be quite strking because they tell a story and follow a sequel, I like how although the pictures in each of the frames changes, the face in each stays the same but with different expressions.

'Illustration Awards'

Pietari Posti (represented by Debut Art)
Cover for 'Swallows and Amazons' by Arthur Ransome

This picture shows the images of the book cover for 'Swallows and Amazons', I decided to include this photo of the covers because the images that you can see in my picture really stand out, I find them bold and striking and particularly like the simplisticity of the images and how the use of four central colours (blue, black, orange and white) contrast withone another.

'The Art of Remembering: Memory Palace'

'Memory Palace' is a work of fiction by Hari Kunzru, it is set in future London years after the World's information infrastructure was wiped out by an immense storm. The narrator of the story is in prison which is referred to as his 'memory palace'. I found this exhbition very clever and interesting as the narrator explains a way of how to remember things, furthermore I didn't expect to like this exhibiton but once I had followed the story I began to understand more clearly what it was all about. Additionally, because of the strangeness and the complex ideas of this exhibition I found it quite memorable as I can picture the visuals used to assist the writing.