From Martin Filler at The New York Review of Books…
Few developments central to the history of art have been so misrepresented or misunderstood as the brief, brave, glorious, doomed life of the Bauhaus—the epochally influential German art, architecture, crafts, and design school that was founded in Goethe’s sleepy hometown of Weimar in 1919. It then flourished from 1925 to 1932 in Dessau, an industrial backwater where the school’s first director, Walter Gropius, built its image-making headquarters (see illustration on page 25); and it ultimately but vainly sought refuge in cosmopolitan Berlin, where it closed in 1933, when Hitler took power. Now, nine decades after its inception and three quarters of a century after its dissolution, the Bauhaus has finally been explained to the museum-going public in terms much closer to its actual intent and immense achievement than ever before. More…
From Matt Tyrnauer at VF Daily…
When Romans criticize their incomparably beautiful city, they often mutter, terzo mondo—third world—and shake their heads. The sharp contrasts of Italy’s capital are part of its wonder and joy. The primness of the seat of the Catholic Church, where timid nuns scurry about in groups of two and three, stands in stark contrast to the overt sensuality—in mood and dress—of the general populace. The city is packed with more art treasures than any other in the Western world, yet, at least by European standards, Rome is an extreme backwater in terms of anything having to do with pre-19th-century art. Last week there was a sense of renewal and redemption in the air here as a new much-awaited museum devoted to contemporary art finally opened its doors. The mammoth structure, called MAXXI—short for Museo Nazionale delle Arti del XXI—is designed by Zaha Hadid, and is located in Flamino, a residential and former light-industrial area near the Tiber. MAXXI’s opening week was greeted with delight by both local sophisticates and average Romans. Romans have been praying for something to reinvigorate contemporary culture in this ancient place, which has been in an innovative art drought since the golden ago of Cinecitta expired many decades ago. To make matters more frustrating, MAXXI’s arrival has been long-delayed and full of dramatic twists and turns. (It was supposed to open in 2005.) More…
From Michael M. Grynbaum at The New York Times…
In a city of world-class art museums and an instantly recognizable skyline, no image is more closely examined than the New York City subway map, the ubiquitous blue-and-taupe rectangle scrutinized by millions.
Now the subterranean icon is poised to get a spruce-up.
Next month, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority will unveil a resized, recolored and simplified edition of the well-known map, its first overhaul in more than a decade.
Manhattan will become taller, bulkier and 30 percent wider, to better display its spaghetti of subway lines. Staten Island, meanwhile, will shrink by half. The spreadsheetlike “service guide,” along the map’s bottom border, will be eliminated, and the other three boroughs will grow to fill the space. More…
From Dezeen.com…
Italian design collective Acquacalda have designed a range of kitchen gadgets based on the laws of physics, including this device for pouring exactly equal amounts of wine into four glasses.
Called Applied Physics, the collection also includes a self-hydrating plant pot, a glass with a measuring reservoir, a bowl for weighing dry food in water and a vase that indicates the water level inside through its handle. More…
From Margalit Fox at The New York Times…
It was for decades the most enduring piece of ephemera in New York City and is still among the most recognizable. Trim, blue and white, it fits neatly in the hand, sized so its contents can be downed in a New York minute. It is as vivid an emblem of the city as the Statue of Liberty, beloved of property masters who need to evoke Gotham at a glance in films and on television.
It is, of course, the Anthora, the cardboard cup of Grecian design that has held New Yorkers’ coffee securely for nearly half a century. Introduced in the 1960s, the Anthora was long made by the hundreds of millions annually, nearly every cup destined for the New York area. More…
Design Conference
2-4 February 2011
Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
If you intend to present a paper at the conference, your participation begins by submitting a paper proposal. More information on proposals, presentation types, and other options available here. If your proposal is accepted, you will then need to register for the conference.
Those who submit paper proposals should register following the acceptance of the proposal. Conference delegates who do not intend to present may register at any time. 2011 Design Conference registration options.
The 2011 Design Conference will be held at Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy from 2-4 February 2011.
The conference is a cross-disciplinary forum which brings together researchers, teachers and practitioners to discuss the nature and future of design. The resulting conversations weave between the theoretical and the empirical, research and application, market pragmatics and social idealism. More…
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