Designer Kostantin Grcic offers his vision of the home and urban interiors of the future in the “Panorama” exhibition at the Vitra Design Museum.
The Vitra Design Museum hosts the exhibition “Konstantin Grcic – Panorama”, opening on March 22 and featuring the work of Kostantin Grcic. The designer came up with a number of installations for the exhibition to represent his vision of human life in the future, examining the concepts of the home interior, the design studio and the urban environment.
Visitors come up against imaginary scenarios culminating in a 30 metre long representation of an imaginary architectural landscape of the future.
The fourth section of the exhibition is specifically dedicated to the work and projects of Kostantin Grcic.
In this space Grcic exhibits a number of his most significant projects along with everyday objects and works and products by artists and designers who inspired him, including: Marcel Duchamp, Gerrit Rietveld and Enzo Mari.
“Panorama” is the title of a retrospective of german designer, showcasing the largest display of grcic’s work to date. In addition, three new in-situ installations on the ground floor narrate the role of design in our times with political, sociological, anthropological and technological incursions. A retrospective that looks to the future, but also is a “diorama” of the present, a “panorama” where boundaries between public and private living and work space are increasingly blurred. Comprised of four specifically curated sections, the exhibition includes three large-scale installations that detail grcic’s visions for life in the future, and are asking questions to stimulate a discussion. “Life space” – a home interior, “work space” – a design studio and “public space” – a futuristic urban environment containing a panorama, from which the exhibit takes its name.
The “work space” showcases a number of grcic’s objects and prototypes displayed within a laboratory fused with a model workshop. at alternate ends of the room, one wall is clad in artificial rugged rock illuminated with purple light, while the other functions as a projection screen, providing insights into a typical day in the designer’s munich studio. the contrast between cave and and high-tech illustrates the design discourse of today, with cutting edge production techniques and new economic models flourishing against the backdrop of fragmented consumer markets, which will inevitably have an adverse effect on the influence today’s designers. the installation does not promise answers, but rather creates visual images that question and examine the role of a designer in the early 21st century.
The cave wall here refers to the architecture of the server space of wikiLeaks, “pionen – white mountain”, designed by Albert france-lanord architects, which is housed in a former 1,200 sqm cold war bunker; 30 meters under the granite rocks of the vita berg park in stockholm. konstantin grcic was surprised to see his chair in this work space.
In this room installation of different stages from “virtual” to “physical” are shown. You can see also the wall serves as a projection screen for a film providing glimpses of a typical work day in grcic’s munich studio.
In the section ‘life space’ features an apparently anonymous space where a stage-like platform delineates a living area. the volume provides its fictional occupant with electricity, WLAN, heating and air conditioning in addition to establishing a link between the room’s more personal objects and its nondescript architecture. the stage questions notions attached to the human occupation of space, considering the minimal requirements necessary to exist in comfort. the installation embraces technical innovation while simultaneously imparting an almost meditative air of tranquility. catering to a range of human needs, the space facilitates communication, but also focuses on retreat and concentration.
Its a stage-like platform delineates an anonymous living area.
The space has different elements such as the grcic’s new chair for arflex, the red one, the ‘karbon’ chaiselongue for galerie kreo, the black one, and the waver swivel chair for Vitra, the white one.
