Swiss Institute Annual Architecture and Design Series: 2nd edition
PAVILLON DE L’ESPRIT NOUVEAU: A 21st Century Show Home
September 24–November 8, 2015
Swiss Institute
18 Wooster Street
New York, NY 10013
Curated by Felix Burrichter
Exhibition Design by Shawn Maximo
Swiss Institute is delighted to present the 2nd edition of its Annual Architecture and Design Series entitled PAVILLON DE L’ESPRIT NOUVEAU: A 21st Century Show Home. Curated by Felix Burrichter, the editor and creative director of award-winning architecture and design magazine PIN–UP, the exhibition channels the visionary irreverence of Le Corbusier for a 21st century take on domesticity.
When Swiss-born architect Le Corbusier participated in the 1925 Paris Exposition des Arts Décoratifs, his contribution—the original Pavillon de l’Esprit Nouveau—caused an uproar among the fair’s organizers. In a commercial trade show intended to facilitate the promotion of the Art Déco style, his aesthetic was dismissed as antithetical. In retrospect, however, Le Corbusier’s Pavillon de L’Esprit Nouveau acted as a manifesto that introduced revolutionary design concepts, including building standardization, mass-production as it applies to furnishings and interiors, and the mechanization of the home. These ideas would resonate for decades to come, largely influencing post-war housing schemes and décor throughout the rest of the 20th century.
In homage to the original Pavillon de l’Esprit Nouveau, Burrichter’s exhibition acts as a conceptual show home for the 21st century. 90 years after the original debuted in Paris, this contemporary PAVILLON DE L’ESPRIT NOUVEAU explores new modes of domesticity, as well as innovation in furniture design, where craft coexists with computational expertise.The exhibition features over 30 international designers and artists, most of whom are participating with specially commissioned works. All featured pieces bear key elements in either fabrication or material that highlight industrial progress made in the last 15 years such as laser-cutting, 3D-printing, advanced LED-technology, non-woven textiles, and ultra-light carbon-fiber.
In addition to serving as a platform for new design, PAVILLON DE L’ESPRIT NOUVEAU is also an interactive, architectural experience. Divided into softly delineated zones, each increasing in levels of privacy, the exhibition design by architect and artist Shawn Maximo makes use of digital rendering technology and Chroma key compositing. The 21st century show home incorporates scenarios of different domestic environments, exploring the blurred lines in a culture of digital escapism and surveillance.
In the characteristically confident words of Le Corbusier, the Pavillon‘s 2015 iteration at Swiss Institute aims to capture “a turning point in the design of modern interiors and a milestone in the evolution of architecture.”
The exhibition will include works by:
Lindsey Adelman, Nanu Al-Hamad, Aranda\Lasch, Alessandro Bava, Josh Bitelli, Camille Blin, Laureline Galliot, Konstantin Grcic, Paul Kopkau, Kram/Weisshaar, Joris Laarman, Max Lamb, Le Corbusier, Piero Lissoni, Philippe Malouin, Shawn Maximo, Jasper Morrison, Jonathan Muecke, Marlie Mul, Ifeanyi Oganwu, Leon Ransmeier, Sean Raspet, Jessi Reaves, Guto Requena, RO/LU, Rossi Bianchi, Julika Rudelius, Soft Baroque, Robert Stadler, Ian Stell, Katie Stout, Elisa Strozyk, Studio Drift, Patricia Urquiola, Christian Wassmann, Bethan Laura Wood.
About the curator
Felix Burrichter is a German-born, New York-based writer and creative director. He studied architecture at the Ecole Spéciale d’Architecture (Paris) and Columbia University (New York) before founding PIN–UP magazine in 2006, where he serves as editor and creative director. PIN–UP is a biannual architecture and design magazine (“Magazine for Architectural Entertainment”) that regularly features interviews with renowned architects (SANAA, Richard Meier, Shigeru Ban, Zaha Hadid, Peter Marino, Ricardo Bofill, Odile Decq, David Adjaye, Santiago Calatrava, Rem Koolhaas) as well as critical essays and contemporary architecture and design photography. Heralded as a “cult design zine” by the New York Times and for “framing the built environment in decidedly sexy terms” (Architectural Digest), in 2011 PIN–UP was awarded the Gold Medal for Editorial Design by the Art Director’s Club America. In addition to consulting on art and design books, Burrichter is a regular contributor to T The New York Times Style Magazine, W Magazine, and Fantastic Man.
Swiss Institute thanks the lenders to the exhibition: Aznom, Monza; Carpenter’s Workshop Gallery, London and Paris; Croy Nielsen, Berlin; Designtex, New York; Dzek Limited, London; Emeco, Hanover; Established & Sons, London; Expand Design LTD, London; Febrik, Tilburg; Flos, New York; Galerie Armel Soyer, Paris; Living Divani, Como; Nilufar Gallery, Milan; Vitra, Birsfelden; Volume Gallery, Chicago.
Swiss Institute programming is made possible in part with public funds from Pro Helvetia, New York State Council on the Arts, with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. Main Sponsors: Luma Foundation and Friends of Swiss Institute (FOSI). Leading Partners: UBS and Victorinox. Swiss Institute gratefully acknowledges Swiss as travel partner, and Chelsea Hotels as hospitality partner.
The 2015 Architecture and Design Exhibition is supported by the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts, Presence Switzerland, Austrian Cultural Forum New York, Kara Mann and Cultural Partner Fondation Le Corbusier, Paris. In-Kind support provided by: Aznom; Carpenter’s Workshop; Designtex; Flos; GCX; Living Divani; Maharam; Pantone; Resolume; Rosco Laboratories; Soylent; USM; Vitra, USA.
Media contact: Molly Rowe / Mathilde Campergue, Third Eye
molly [at] hellothirdeye.com / mathilde [at] hellothirdeye.com / T +1 646 593 8713
