Output details
34 - Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory
Kingston University
Super Contemporary
Design Museum London, UK & Taipei Fine Art Museum, Taiwan.
3 June - 4 October 2009 and
27 August - 27 November 2011
15 commissioned designs; 10 filmed interviews, Design Museum objects.
Marking twenty years in its Thameside venue the Design Museum [DM] commissioned designer and curator Daniel Charny to develop a ‘landmark exhibition’, tracing London’s design networks, mapping key moments of impact pertaining to the city’s rich design history and highlighting how London specifically has both informed and supported some of the most influential international design figures.
Super Contemporary set out to identify unique relationships formed within the city and consider the creative draw of London to designers from around the world. Charny devised the exhibition’s content and structure through an iterative use of concept drawings, diagrammatic layouts, interviews and dialogues which identified three core threads of enquiry: Connections; Theoretical and Practical Affinities; Commercial and Cultural Practice.
Commissions from fifteen of London’s designers, including Neville Brody, Zaha Hadid, Ron Arad, El Ultimo Grito, David Adjaye and Thomas Heatherwick, formed the exhibition’s focus. Through conversations and studio visits each identified a conceptual opportunity to contribute something back to the city in which their careers thrive. Charny and the DM team supported the delivery challenges of diverse approaches to the brief, which demanded further interpretation for exhibition. A ‘Timeline’ of international design activity in fashion, architecture, product and communication design (1950-2009), also showcased pieces from the DM collection and incorporated ten filmed interviews with influential retailers, educators, writers and entrepreneurs (1960-2009), providing a detailed context.
Charny was commissioned (2007) to review the DM’s collection and develop a new strategic approach, which included increasing its visibility in broader contexts. Incorporating objects from the collection into the ‘Timeline’ informed a new presentation of the DM collection in 2012 overseen by Charny, who is consequently leading the display of the permanent collection for the New Design Museum launch (2015). Super Contemporary had (47,567 visitors) and was widely reviewed.
