NOVI-VIXX – Design-Art at Adorno

We are constantly looking for new directions within visual expressions. Every decade brings in new crafts and technologies which are absorbed into culture and become artistic media. Every decade we also look back to rediscover, and fall in love with, old techniques and then use them in new ways. The designers that I have selected, for Adorno’s exhibition NOVI-IVXX, demonstrate an investigation of materials.

Emilie Bobek and Josephine Ran Andredottir mime nature, in their foam constructions.

Kristine Mandsberg combines illustrative, tactile expression with a clean graphic nature and shows her personal perception of the surroundings.

Ragnhild Hjalmarsdottir works intuitively and experimentally with craft and expresses aesthetics that have references from another millennium.

I believe that a portion of design can be art, the portion that deals with emotions rather than function and needs.  We see an emerging visual discipline where designers use the freedom of creating thought-provoking and strong pieces that have the pretext of a function. This discipline, Design Art, links manufacturing techniques, both old and modern, as well as conceptual approaches borrowed from other arts and across disciplines.

Design Art is performed by creative talents, distorting the functionality of designed objects or making the function disappear. If Design Art was to be named as a new “ism” I would call it “de-functionalism”. By detaching function, as one of the primary design goals, you open the objects to becoming questions rather than answers.

Lea Nordstrøm and Stine Mikkelsen show objects which contain recognizable elements from our homes and everyday lives. Lea’s works have references to stucco work becoming 3 dimensional. Stine’s objects flirt with function and investigate how people understand and interpret experimental product design.

The design pieces on display at the exhibition are one-off pieces or limited edition. They push boundaries, mix disciplines and ideologies and remove established rules and inhibitions. I believe we need to experiment to evolve. Place enjoy and be puzzled.

Words by Pil Bredahl.
Curator of the Danish Design Scene at ADORNO.