Thing Nothing
17 October–15 November 2015
Opening: 17 October
Van Abbemuseum
Bilderdijklaan 10
Eindhoven
The Netherlands
T +31 (0)40 238 1000
info [at] vanabbemuseum.nl
During Dutch Design Week (DDW) 2015, Design Academy Eindhoven and the Van Abbemuseum organise the exhibition Thing Nothing—a research into the meaning, value and future of things.
The exhibition addresses the relation between form and counter-form, between the real and the virtual, between technological possibilities and moral issues.
It looks at the way design, in dealing with actual materials, shapes and production processes, can also script the intangible qualities of the material world. Over the years, Design Academy has encouraged its students to look beyond the material properties of things, and to search for a presence that Taoists might describe as “nothingness”: the space in and around the object. As virtual space becomes an integral part of our daily environment, designers venture more and more into this world of the unseen, the unspoken, the unmade.
Participating designers / artists
Auger & Loizeau, Mark Bain, Aldo Bakker, James Bridle, Heath Bunting, Committee, Alison Crank, Edith Dekyndt, Heather Dewey-Hagborg, Portable Palace, Studio Drift, Dunne & Raby, Alix Gallet, Imme van der Haak, Olivier van Herpt & Sander Wassink, Hannah Hiecke, Niels Hoebers, HRL Laboratories, Floris Kaayk, Chris Kabel, Marlies Kolodziey, Guillemette Legrand & Eva Jaeger, Lucas Maassen, Metahaven, !Mediengruppe Bitnik, Atelier Monté, MVRDV, Bastiaan de Nennie, Ted Noten, Emilie Pallard & Niels Heymans, Ceramics Museum Princessehof, Unknown Fields Division, Julijonas Urbonas, Ai WeiWei, The Why-Factory, Jólan van der Wiel, Atelier Yuri Veerman, Giuditta Vendrame, Yaolan Luo, Jetske Visser
Ongoing dialogue
Thing Nothing is the third exhibition on which Design Academy Eindhoven and the Van Abbemuseum collaborate. The first, Self Unself was sparked by the unselfish inclination of present day designers. The second, Sense Nonsense embraced the irrational as a creative force. Together with Thing Nothing they form a trilogy about new positions in design.
It is part of the museum’s series “Invitation to dialogue,” a programme in which top institutes and individuals—experts in their own field—will be invited to develop new projects in the Van Abbemuseum. They will contribute new knowledge and expertise, leading to different cooperative ventures and strengthening the links between design, art and society.
Curators
Thomas Widdershoven, Jan Konings, Ina Hollmann and Agata Jaworska
For more information on Thing Nothing you can visit www.vanabbemuseum.nl
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