RE-THINK the EAMES
‘RE-THINK the EAMES’ was presented during the Salone del Mobile 2013 in both Geneva and Milan simultaneously. Two spaces and one show, a tribute to the most acclaimed and influential figures of the 20th’ century design.
The Milan space was dedicated to new technological and immersive display of multiple screens and diverse projections featuring a special selection of images and films, some of which were never made public before. Following the original ‘Think’ exhibition at the IBM Pavilion in the world exhibition, New-York, 1964, ‘Re-think’ is a discourse in 49 years of perspective.
The kind invite of the HEAD /Haute école d’art et de design, Genève – to work with their masters students and create the show, have turned into an exceptionally engaging project.
After a thorough preparation work including an extensive interview with Eames Demetrios and curator Alexandra Midal at the Eames foundation in Santa-Monica, we have composed a comprehensive workshop as a base for this ambitious project.
Over a period of several months in close work with the students team and external specialists, we developed concepts and ways in which this challenging task and the immersive power of the Eames’s ways of presenting could be translated into a contemporary experience. The final result was composed out of two installations corresponding with each other -one in Milan and the other at the ‘Project Room’ in Geneva.
Here an extract from the catalogue accompanying the show /text by Alexandra Midal
…’700 photographs, most of which are unpublished, have been selected from the archives of the Eames Foundation. There are stills and images of the set of their famous movie „Powers of Ten“, those of many of Billy Wilder‘s movies as well as shots of marine animals taken for their film Tank, or Day of the Dead, Toy, Plastic Chairs, Herman Miller Showroom, Good Design Show, the series House of Cards, Think Party, Stacking Chairs, etc., as well as snapshots of their everyday lives in the famous 901 hangar in Santa Monica, California.
With a scenic approach full of surprises, the parallel exhibitions Re-Think the Eames in Milan and Think Twice in the Design Project Room, Geneva University of Art and Design offer you an opportunity to revisit the virtuosity and richness of design in its many manifestations, while also specifically paying tribute to the work of Charles and Ray Eames.’
Re-Think the Eames, presented at Ventura-Lambrate Milan 2013, is a project of the Design Master students of the Geneva University of Art and Design.
Show curated by Alexandra Midal
Workshop led by Nitzan Cohen,
with Dominic Robson
Special support:
Caroline Perret / Studio Nitzan Cohen
Assistants:
Pascal Berger and Marguerite Humeau
With the help of Mathias Zieba
Students: Nanaui Amoros-Silva, Lucie Barbot, Bejamin Benkemoun, Charles Chalas, Praiya Chinagarn, Vincent Dubois, Arielle Grasser, Cécile Guichard, Solkin Keizer, Cuiye Li, Aurélien Mabilat, Juliette Rambaud, Andrea Rovescalli, Julie Schneider, Marion Tamé, Nadezda Zlotnikova
The project was made possible through the generous support and expertise of Eames Demetrios and the Eames Office.
Photography: HEAD – Genève / Sandra Pointet-Baptiste Coulon
