SUR/FACE: Mirrors

Taking place from June 24 to October 1, 2017, the exhibition SUR/FACE: Mirrors at the Museum Angewandte Kunst will focus on the phenomenon of the mirrored surface in art, design and architecture of the present. On 1,200 square metres of floor space, the show will feature products by such designers as Ron Arad, Ettore Sottsass and Oskar Zieta and artworks by Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian, Isa Genzken, Andy Warhol and many others.

SUR/FACE: Mirrors creates room constellations in which the visitors take centre stage as the generators of individual meaning. Mirrored surfaces allow them to enter into dialogue with the objects and the architecture. Not least of all, with his individual perceptions, the visitor is thrown back on himself again and again. In the characteristic architecture of the Richard Meier building with its views of the bank towers making up the Frankfurt skyline, the exhibition stages two spacious, abstract domestic situations reminiscent of lofts or temporary residences. In these settings, reflective design objects and furniture form different interiors based on everyday lifeworlds. Artworks, most of them mirrored themselves, enter into relationships with the interiors and reflect on the subject of reflection.

Whereas mirrors were once a rare luxury, in the nineteenth century methods of manufacturing them industrially were invented. With the advent of modern architecture and design they embarked on a triumphal advance and are meanwhile an integral element of our environment. A look in the mirror serves the purpose of self-perception and self-observation, aids us in our grooming and the staging of our outward appearances and emancipates us from the critical inspection of others. As a medium of self-awareness, the mirror is the theme of numerous philosophical and psychoanalytical studies. Sigmund Freud derived his theory of melancholy from the myth of Narcissus; according to Jacques Lacan, the human being becomes conscious of selfhood when he recognizes his own mirror image during the “mirror stage”; and Jean-Paul Sartre sees the emergence of self-awareness as founded in the “gaze of the other.”

Today the mirror oscillates more than ever between medium of contemplative self-perception and pure stimulation of the senses. Mirrored surfaces are fascinating by virtue of their flawless perfection and capable of arousing desire. As a visual duplication of reality, the mirror alludes to the virtual; as a popular aesthetic it points to the dematerialization tendencies in contemporary design.

Artists to be featured in the exhibition:
John M. Armleder, Bernadette Corporation, Monica Bonvicini, Tom Burr, Keren Cytter, Latifa Echakhch, Olafur Eliasson, Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian, Sylvie Fleury, Isa Genzken, Dan Graham, Olaf Holzapfel, Mischa Kuball, Josephine Meckseper, Olaf Nicolai, Tobias Rehberger, Thomas Rentmeister, Katharina Sieverding, Amalia Ulman, Andy Warhol, Pae White, Claudia Wieser, Heimo Zobernig

Designers and labels to be featured in the exhibition:
0cp, Marco Acerbis, Alessi, Alfi, Neven Allgeier + Benedikt Fischer, Michael Anastassiades, Ron Arad, Aranda\Lasch, Arclinea, Artemide, Barber & Osgerby, Leonie Barth, BD Barcelona Design, Boffi, Ayzit Bostan, Ronan + Erwan Bouroullec, Braun, Maria Bruun, Uli Budde, Campana Brothers, Cassina, Achille Castiglioni, Karen Chekerdjian, Nina Cho, Václav Cigler, Antonio Citterio + Toan Nguyen, Claesson Koivisto Rune, Decor Walther, De Padova, Daft Punk + Daft Arts, Wilton C. Dinges, Tom Dixon, Doshi Levien, Beatrice Durandard, Duscholux, e15, Edra, Emeco, Jean-Baptiste Fastrez, Felicia Ferrone, Flos, FontanaArte, Enrico Franzolini, Fredrikson Stallard, Robert Lee Fritz, Naoto Fukasawa, Glas Italia, Stine Goya + John Kørner, Benjamin Graindorge, Johanna Grawunder, Halb/Halb, Makio Hasuike, Haw-lin Services, Sebastian Herkner, Ulla + Martin Kaufmann, KEF, Rodney Kinsman, Mathias Kiss, Tomáš Král, Romain Lagrange, Ligne Roset, Jonas Lindstroem, Kai Linke, Ross Lovegrove, Magis, Vico Magistretti, Philipp Mainzer, Maison Margiela, Richard Meier, Roberto Menghi, mischer’traxler, Jasper Morrison, MYKILOS, MYKITA, nuuna, Paustian, PB 0110, Pulpo, Pussykrew, Karim Rashid, Rooms, Daniel Rybakken, Klaus Schmidhuber, Scholten & Baijings, Tijmen Smeulders, Soft Baroque, Ettore Sottsass, Philippe Starck, Elisa Strozyk, Sucuk und Bratwurst, Jonah Takagi, Technogym, Oswald Mathias Ungers, Maiken Walther, Reinhold Weiss, Wilkens & Söhne, Verreum, Voon Wong + Benson Saw, Oskar Zieta

Director: Matthias Wagner K
Curatorial team: Juliane Duft, Dr Mahret Kupka, Dr Christine Nippe, Matthias Wagner K
Press contact: Dorothee Maas, T +49 69 212 32828 / F +49 69 212 30703 / presse.angewandte-kunst@stadt-frankfurt.de