CaixaForum Madrid immersed in a rich dialogue between surrealism and design
The director of the Exhibitions Department of the "la Caixa" Foundation, Isabel Salgado; the director of CaixaForum Madrid, Isabel P. Fuentes, and the director of the Vitra Design Museum and curator of the exhibition, Mateo Kries, presented in CaixaForum Madrid the exhibition 'Objects of Desire. Surrealism and Design, 1924-2020', which, with 279 works, explores the fruitful relationship between surrealism and design over the last hundred years.
The exhibition will be held at CaixaForum Madrid from November 12, 2020, to March 21, 2021, produced and organised by "la Caixa" Foundation and Vitra Design Museum and curated by Mateo Kries, director of the Vitra Design Museum, and Tanja Cunz, assistant to the curator.
The exhibition is part of the "la Caixa" Foundation's consolidated exhibition programme on architecture and design, which goes beyond an approach to specific styles and historical periods. Among the exhibitions programmed are those dedicated to great figures such as Le Corbusier, Richard Rogers, Adolf Loos and Alvar Aalto. Precisely the Finnish architect was also on display in 2015, in collaboration with the Vitra Design Museum at CaixaForum Madrid.
The exhibition, co-organised by "la Caixa" Foundation and the Vitra Design Museum, is a dialogue between design objects and works of art that highlights rich parallels and connections between them. It is a two-way relationship, as surrealism was inspired, in part, by everyday objects and design, but in turn, this artistic movement impacted on design from the outset and, in a clear criticism of rationalism, helped free it from the functionalist dogma that "form follows function". This influence, which began in the 1930s and intensified especially after the Second World War, is still very much alive in part of contemporary design.
After being officially presented in 1924 with the publication of André Breton's 'Manifesto of Surrealism', surrealism quickly became an international intellectual and political movement whose members came from different backgrounds and disciplines, including writing, film and the fine arts. The subconscious, dream, eroticism, obsession, chance and the irrational were all elements that the Surrealist artists fused into their works, which were often everyday objects whose forms they altered and subverted. At a point where the discipline was most critical of rationalism, design also appropriated these elements.
The influence of surrealism spread to all areas of design in the last century: from furniture and interior design to graphic design, fashion, film and photography. Today, the influence of surrealism is very present in design. Surrealism's subversive approach, fantastic images and interest in the human psyche continue to inspire contemporary designers.
The exhibition, which is multidisciplinary in nature and divided into four thematic areas, aims to illuminate this fascinating and ongoing creative dialogue. It includes paintings, sculptures, objects, posters, magazines, books and photographs, as well as historical films and videos. Among the artists and designers on display are Marcel Duchamp, René Magritte, Shiro Kuramata, Ray Eames, Carlo Mollino, Gae Aulenti, Claude Cahun, Achille Castiglioni, Man Ray, Giorgio de Chirico, Joan Miró, Le Corbusier, Salvador Dalí, Roberto Matta, Isamu Noguchi and Meret Oppenheim. .
The works come from numerous collections, foundations and museums around the world, such as the Fondazione Giorgio e Isa de Chirico, the Fundazione Gala- Salvador Dalí, the San Diego Museum of Art, the West Dean College, the Museo Casa Mollino, the Fondazione Achille Castiglioni, the Eames Collection LLC, the Design Museum Den Bosch and the Vitra Design Museum itself, where the exhibition could already be seen. After coming to an end in Barcelona, the exhibition 'Objects of Desire' is now coming to CaixaForum Madrid, and is due to be shown later at CaixaForum Seville and CaixaForum Girona.