MoDiP will be closed next week whilst the staff prepare for our new exhibition, Polymorphia.
The museum will reopen on Friday 4th April 2014, in the meantime if you need to contact the staff please email modip@aub.ac.uk or phone on 01202 363255.
MoDiP is part of the Arts University Bournemouth
Friday, 28 March 2014
Wednesday, 26 March 2014
Pop Art is Back to the Future
Today I am passing the blog over to our PhD student Kate Hall, she has written a review of the Pop Art Design Exhibition held at the Barbican, London over the winter. Thank you Kate.
Louise Dennis (Assistant Curator)
Pop Art Design at the Barbican October 2103 – February 2014
If there was ever a period in art and design that was hard to ignore and whose influence would reverberate for decades, it was the Pop Art movement of the mid 20th century. The rapidly developing mass media gave the movement the perfect platform from which art and design could reject everything that had gone before. This was an absolute “out with the old and in with the new.”
The Pop Art Design show was mounted in collaboration with the Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein in Southern Germany, in cooperation with Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk and Moderna Museet, Stockholm. So it was no surprise that the exhibition should draw on these and other private collections, the result, a distillation into a psychedelic, retro, shop style time warp presentation and celebration of the material culture of 20th century.
I caught the show on the last day and the crowds were still coming. The setting was the Barbican in London and it was buzzing with visitors on a Sunday afternoon, looking for a little culture, entertainment, somewhere to meet. Sitting in one of the many Cafés there, sipping my English Breakfast Tea and a huge piece of cake, costing an arm and a leg, looking out over a damp, grey East End with its old architecture sitting comfortably next to the new, my eyes were drawn to the white plastic seats and chairs that were set outside, for somewhat better weather. The Sussex Benches designed by Robin Day punctuated the terrace reminding me that the influence of Pop Art design was not just a passing phase but has repercussions that impact on so many contemporary artists and designers and a resonance that continues to filter through their work.
Pop Art, say the experts was the most important and influential movement of the post war era with its overtly controversial and dynamic dialogue between Art and Design. This exhibition drew on some of the main protagonists; Richard Hamilton, Andy Warhol, Claes Oldenburg, Roy Lichtenstein, Judy Chicago with design objects by Charles Eames, George Nelson, Achille Castiglioni and Ettore Sottsass, names that read like a Pop Art Celebrity ‘A’ List.
The objects selected for the show echoed the social and cultural shifting of the period with a host of examples that demonstrated the elevation of the everyday to iconic status. There was Warhol’s advertising of that soup and that famous American soda; the urbane, yet perfectly useful Tupperware containers, Lichenstein’s comic book parodies of an industrial, consumer oriented America through his instantly recognizable Ben-Day dot paintings. There was kitsch, there was bizarre, there were chairs that had became something else entirely, items that looked other-worldly, metaphor and symbol, politics and preposterous all woven into a marvelously colourful time capsule of the period.
The Show’s gaze was not confined to Pop Art according to the US and UK but explored the wider inspirational reaches taking in continental Europe, especially Italy. It drew on an eclectic but carefully selected mix of sculpture, furniture, clothing, signs, advertising, film, computers, electronics; many constructed and created from new materials that were liberating both artists and designers of the era. The products and subjects were instantly recognizable such that a generation not yet born during the zenith of the movement, could identify with the objects and images without prompting but equally some challenging shapes and forms that prompted more than a few younger visitors to ask the inevitable “what’s that Dad?”
There was energy, vitality about the show, attracting all ages including those who actually remember the era, which probably means that they weren’t really there. It was a show for conversation, chatter, discourse and nobody asked you to keep the noise down. There was an assault on all your senses. The downside, as is often the case was that touching was prohibited, with the presence of the ever-vigilant stewards gliding from room to room, just in case. Pop Art cries out “come and touch me”. “I’m really just very ordinary”. But when the value on most of the objects there defied what for some commentators would be their trashy, cheap appearance, looking was all that you were allowed. I was left wondering how many of the now departed leading players would view their lofty positions in the annals of art / design history.
Plastic was pervasive, finding its natural home in the Pop Art époque and hurtled into the homes of the ordinary consumer as well as those of the collectors such as the almost now forgotten Leon Kraushar, who avariciously filled his homes with some of the best examples of the time.
There was plastic everywhere and there were chairs, chairs that went beyond function and embraced the artistic statement. They had become the artist’s canvas. There was an Allen Jones stool, part of his provocative Women as Furniture series (1969) with its strong sadomasochistic and fetishist overtones which parents were finding difficult to explain to their children; Charles and Ray Eames iconic chair, in bright red for maximum impact (1950); Gunnar Aagaard Andersen’s Portrait of My Mothers Chesterfield (1964) with its gothic grotesqueness but clearly showing Andersen’s embrace of new materials and new forms.
Of course, I had to buy the book to accompany the exhibition/show. It wasn’t cheap but it was different. It blended art and design, it was brash, irresistible, colourful, eye-catching and the cover was made with plastic.
Have I just summed-up the show?
Useful Links
Louise Dennis (Assistant Curator)
Pop Art Design at the Barbican October 2103 – February 2014
 |
| Creative commons - www.flickr.com/photos/disdlibrary/ |
If there was ever a period in art and design that was hard to ignore and whose influence would reverberate for decades, it was the Pop Art movement of the mid 20th century. The rapidly developing mass media gave the movement the perfect platform from which art and design could reject everything that had gone before. This was an absolute “out with the old and in with the new.”
 |
|
Image
used by By Przykuta under a Creative Commons Attribution License, via Wikimedia
Commons.
|
The Pop Art Design show was mounted in collaboration with the Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein in Southern Germany, in cooperation with Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk and Moderna Museet, Stockholm. So it was no surprise that the exhibition should draw on these and other private collections, the result, a distillation into a psychedelic, retro, shop style time warp presentation and celebration of the material culture of 20th century.
I caught the show on the last day and the crowds were still coming. The setting was the Barbican in London and it was buzzing with visitors on a Sunday afternoon, looking for a little culture, entertainment, somewhere to meet. Sitting in one of the many Cafés there, sipping my English Breakfast Tea and a huge piece of cake, costing an arm and a leg, looking out over a damp, grey East End with its old architecture sitting comfortably next to the new, my eyes were drawn to the white plastic seats and chairs that were set outside, for somewhat better weather. The Sussex Benches designed by Robin Day punctuated the terrace reminding me that the influence of Pop Art design was not just a passing phase but has repercussions that impact on so many contemporary artists and designers and a resonance that continues to filter through their work.
 |
| Barbican Terrace image by author |
Pop Art, say the experts was the most important and influential movement of the post war era with its overtly controversial and dynamic dialogue between Art and Design. This exhibition drew on some of the main protagonists; Richard Hamilton, Andy Warhol, Claes Oldenburg, Roy Lichtenstein, Judy Chicago with design objects by Charles Eames, George Nelson, Achille Castiglioni and Ettore Sottsass, names that read like a Pop Art Celebrity ‘A’ List.
 |
|
Richard
Hamilton, “Just What Is It That Makes Today’s Homes So Different, So Appealing?”
Image by Ian Burt (oddsock via Flickr) under a Creative Commons Attribution License.
|
The objects selected for the show echoed the social and cultural shifting of the period with a host of examples that demonstrated the elevation of the everyday to iconic status. There was Warhol’s advertising of that soup and that famous American soda; the urbane, yet perfectly useful Tupperware containers, Lichenstein’s comic book parodies of an industrial, consumer oriented America through his instantly recognizable Ben-Day dot paintings. There was kitsch, there was bizarre, there were chairs that had became something else entirely, items that looked other-worldly, metaphor and symbol, politics and preposterous all woven into a marvelously colourful time capsule of the period.
 |
| Andy
Warhol. Image by Jack Mitchell, used under the Creative Commons Attribution
License-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. Photo by Jack Mitchell. Source: Wikipedia |
The Show’s gaze was not confined to Pop Art according to the US and UK but explored the wider inspirational reaches taking in continental Europe, especially Italy. It drew on an eclectic but carefully selected mix of sculpture, furniture, clothing, signs, advertising, film, computers, electronics; many constructed and created from new materials that were liberating both artists and designers of the era. The products and subjects were instantly recognizable such that a generation not yet born during the zenith of the movement, could identify with the objects and images without prompting but equally some challenging shapes and forms that prompted more than a few younger visitors to ask the inevitable “what’s that Dad?”
The 1960s and 1970s are seen as the highpoint
of the Pop Art movement but the show also dipped into its conception in the
late 1940s and its legacy drawing in contemporary artists such as Hume,
Murakami, Opie and Koons.
 |
|
Pratone
seats. Image by Andrea Pavanello used under a Creative Commons Attribution
License. Wikepedia.
|
There was energy, vitality about the show, attracting all ages including those who actually remember the era, which probably means that they weren’t really there. It was a show for conversation, chatter, discourse and nobody asked you to keep the noise down. There was an assault on all your senses. The downside, as is often the case was that touching was prohibited, with the presence of the ever-vigilant stewards gliding from room to room, just in case. Pop Art cries out “come and touch me”. “I’m really just very ordinary”. But when the value on most of the objects there defied what for some commentators would be their trashy, cheap appearance, looking was all that you were allowed. I was left wondering how many of the now departed leading players would view their lofty positions in the annals of art / design history.
Plastic was pervasive, finding its natural home in the Pop Art époque and hurtled into the homes of the ordinary consumer as well as those of the collectors such as the almost now forgotten Leon Kraushar, who avariciously filled his homes with some of the best examples of the time.
There was plastic everywhere and there were chairs, chairs that went beyond function and embraced the artistic statement. They had become the artist’s canvas. There was an Allen Jones stool, part of his provocative Women as Furniture series (1969) with its strong sadomasochistic and fetishist overtones which parents were finding difficult to explain to their children; Charles and Ray Eames iconic chair, in bright red for maximum impact (1950); Gunnar Aagaard Andersen’s Portrait of My Mothers Chesterfield (1964) with its gothic grotesqueness but clearly showing Andersen’s embrace of new materials and new forms.
Of course, I had to buy the book to accompany the exhibition/show. It wasn’t cheap but it was different. It blended art and design, it was brash, irresistible, colourful, eye-catching and the cover was made with plastic.
Have I just summed-up the show?
Useful Links
Monday, 24 March 2014
BXL photographic archive #0048
In 2010, MoDiP was donated a large archive of images
relating to a single company. Bakelite Xylonite Ltd, also known as British
Xylonite Ltd or BXL, was possibly one of the first British firms to
successfully manufacture a plastics material in commercial quantities. The company was established in 1875 and after
a long history went into liquidation in the late 2000s. The images we have in the collection are
concentrated around the 1960s through to the 1980s and show us glimpses of the
manufacturing process, products and the company’s employees during this time. We plan to share an image each week to give a
flavour of the archive. If you want to
see more you can view the whole collection on our website.
This week’s image shows the size of extrusion machinery.
This week’s image shows the size of extrusion machinery.
 |
| To get a better view of the image and find out more have a look at it on our website http://www.modip.ac.uk/artefact/bxl--0315 |
We are still working on the documentation of the archive,
some of the images we know more about than others. It would be fantastic if we could fill in
some of the gaps in our knowledge, if you know anything about the company or
specific images it would be good to hear from you.
Louise Dennis (Assistant Curator)
Louise Dennis (Assistant Curator)
Friday, 21 March 2014
Can you shine some light on this object?
MoDiP has the kind of
collection that you may think you are very familiar with. We have objects which
we all use every day, and some pieces which are more unusual.
By looking at this distorted image are you able to guess what the object is? What do you think it could be used for?
Post your answer in the comments below or to find the answer click here and you will be taken to the MoDiP catalogue.
Louise Dennis (Assistant Curator)
By looking at this distorted image are you able to guess what the object is? What do you think it could be used for?
Post your answer in the comments below or to find the answer click here and you will be taken to the MoDiP catalogue.
Louise Dennis (Assistant Curator)
Wednesday, 19 March 2014
#MuseumWeek
Next week (24th -30th March 2014) is Museum Week on Twitter. It is an opportunity for museums and visitors to share ideas and ask questions of each other.
MoDiP is going to attempt to show people what we do and why we do it along side lots of other museums in the UK, Italy, Spain and France. Find out what other museums are taking part.
The week has been split up into themed days with additional hashtags to help everyone follow along.
Why not join in and follow us on twitter/MoDiPAUB, it should be lots of fun - if I can keep up with it all!
Louise Dennis (Assistant Curator)
MoDiP is going to attempt to show people what we do and why we do it along side lots of other museums in the UK, Italy, Spain and France. Find out what other museums are taking part.
The week has been split up into themed days with additional hashtags to help everyone follow along.
- March 24 Day 1 – A day in the life (#DayInTheLife)
- March 25 Day 2 – Test your knowledge (#MuseumMastermind)
- March 26 Day 3 – Your story (#MuseumMemories)
- March 27 Day 4 – Buildings behind the art (#BehindTheArt)
- March 28 Day 5 – Ask the expert (#AskTheCurator)
- March 29 Day 6 – Museum selfies (#MuseumSelfies)
- March 30 Day 7 – Constraint drives creativity (#GetCreative)
Why not join in and follow us on twitter/MoDiPAUB, it should be lots of fun - if I can keep up with it all!
Louise Dennis (Assistant Curator)
Monday, 17 March 2014
BXL photographic archive #0047
In 2010, MoDiP was donated a large archive of images
relating to a single company. Bakelite Xylonite Ltd, also known as British
Xylonite Ltd or BXL, was possibly one of the first British firms to
successfully manufacture a plastics material in commercial quantities. The company was established in 1875 and after
a long history went into liquidation in the late 2000s. The images we have in the collection are
concentrated around the 1960s through to the 1980s and show us glimpses of the
manufacturing process, products and the company’s employees during this time. We plan to share an image each week to give a
flavour of the archive. If you want to
see more you can view the whole collection on our website.
This week’s image shows a shrink wrapped can and bottles.
This week’s image shows a shrink wrapped can and bottles.
 |
| To get a better view of the image and find out more have a look at it on our website http://www.modip.ac.uk/artefact/bxl--0163 |
We are still working on the documentation of the archive,
some of the images we know more about than others. It would be fantastic if we could fill in
some of the gaps in our knowledge, if you know anything about the company or
specific images it would be good to hear from you.
Louise Dennis (Assistant Curator)
Louise Dennis (Assistant Curator)
Friday, 14 March 2014
Do you know what this is?
MoDiP has the kind of
collection that you may think you are very familiar with. We have objects which
we all use every day, and some pieces which are more unusual.
By looking at this distorted image are you able to guess what the object is? What do you think it could be used for?
Post your answer in the
comments below or to find the answer click here and you will be taken to the
MoDiP catalogue.
Louise Dennis (Assistant Curator)
By looking at this distorted image are you able to guess what the object is? What do you think it could be used for?
Louise Dennis (Assistant Curator)
Wednesday, 12 March 2014
#MuseumDinos
In celebration of the 10th birthday of the The Children's Museum of Indianopolis' Dinosphere we are joining culturethemes.blogspot.co.uk/ for a dinosaur fest on twitter.
As you can guess in a museum of plastics we do not have any real dinosaurs but we do have some lovely specimens from the plasticeous period all of which were featured in our Beastly Designs exhibition.
Our oldest specimen is the Watersaurus, a proud, long-necked beast with a blow moulded form designed for watering the garden.
Next is the Trunkisaurus Rex, a ride-along children's suitcase.
And lastly, the Tatty Devine necklace inspired by a real MuseumDino from the Natural History Museum, London.
Other museums and museum visitors will be sharing their dinosaurs on twitter - find out more by searching #MuseumDinos or following @Culturethemes
Louise Dennis (Assistant Curator)
As you can guess in a museum of plastics we do not have any real dinosaurs but we do have some lovely specimens from the plasticeous period all of which were featured in our Beastly Designs exhibition.
Our oldest specimen is the Watersaurus, a proud, long-necked beast with a blow moulded form designed for watering the garden.
 |
| AIBDC : 0_6602 |
Next is the Trunkisaurus Rex, a ride-along children's suitcase.
 |
| AIBDC : 006693 |
And lastly, the Tatty Devine necklace inspired by a real MuseumDino from the Natural History Museum, London.
 |
| AIBDC : 006243 |
Other museums and museum visitors will be sharing their dinosaurs on twitter - find out more by searching #MuseumDinos or following @Culturethemes
Louise Dennis (Assistant Curator)
Monday, 10 March 2014
BXL photographic archive #0046
In 2010, MoDiP was donated a large archive of images
relating to a single company. Bakelite Xylonite Ltd, also known as British
Xylonite Ltd or BXL, was possibly one of the first British firms to
successfully manufacture a plastics material in commercial quantities. The company was established in 1875 and after
a long history went into liquidation in the late 2000s. The images we have in the collection are
concentrated around the 1960s through to the 1980s and show us glimpses of the
manufacturing process, products and the company’s employees during this time. We plan to share an image each week to give a
flavour of the archive. If you want to
see more you can view the whole collection on our website.
This week’s image shows a shrink wrapped bottles ready for transit.
This week’s image shows a shrink wrapped bottles ready for transit.
 |
| To get a better view of the image and find out more have a look at it on our website http://www.modip.ac.uk/artefact/bxl--0348 |
We are still working on the documentation of the archive,
some of the images we know more about than others. It would be fantastic if we could fill in
some of the gaps in our knowledge, if you know anything about the company or
specific images it would be good to hear from you.
Louise Dennis (Assistant Curator)
Louise Dennis (Assistant Curator)
Friday, 7 March 2014
Guess the object
MoDiP has the kind of
collection that you may think you are very familiar with. We have objects which
we all use every day, and some pieces which are more unusual.
By looking at this distorted image are you able to guess what the object is? What do you think it could be used for?
Post your answer in the
comments below or to find the answer click here and you will be taken to the
MoDiP catalogue.
Louise Dennis (Assistant Curator)
By looking at this distorted image are you able to guess what the object is? What do you think it could be used for?
Louise Dennis (Assistant Curator)
Wednesday, 5 March 2014
Beauty in Form
As I was packing away one of our recent exhibitions at MoDiP
on Kartell - an Italian design company
who specialise in contemporary furniture and products made of modern materials
that are aesthetically pleasing - I was
admiring the plastic shapes, colours and designs and looking at the way that
plastic can be moulded into some really beautiful forms. Now that’s not an
earth shattering revelation - but for me it was something I hadn’t previously
given much thought to as I use plastic in a very general way in my everyday
life.
Kartell items, as an example, come beautifully packaged encased in plastazote (a type of foam used in packaging for protection) that may be cut in intricate shapes to accommodate the item. The boxes themselves give credence to the idea that these are desirable objects that are to be admired and of high value – something that you would be proud to display in your home or use at a dinner party.
Some of the objects I was handling retail for between £50 and £70, so the interesting thing here is that we are paying not for the material but for design, beauty and form. Essentially we are buying someone’s creativity and talent because plastic itself does not have the same value and allure as say precious metals or jewels but the human mind has no limits when it comes to imagination and therefore we can create kudos in inanimate objects made of an everyday material like plastic.
Julie Connery (MoDiP Administrator)
.jpg) |
| Part of the Kartell display |
Kartell items, as an example, come beautifully packaged encased in plastazote (a type of foam used in packaging for protection) that may be cut in intricate shapes to accommodate the item. The boxes themselves give credence to the idea that these are desirable objects that are to be admired and of high value – something that you would be proud to display in your home or use at a dinner party.
Some of the objects I was handling retail for between £50 and £70, so the interesting thing here is that we are paying not for the material but for design, beauty and form. Essentially we are buying someone’s creativity and talent because plastic itself does not have the same value and allure as say precious metals or jewels but the human mind has no limits when it comes to imagination and therefore we can create kudos in inanimate objects made of an everyday material like plastic.
Julie Connery (MoDiP Administrator)
Monday, 3 March 2014
BXL photographic archive #0045
In 2010, MoDiP was donated a large archive of images
relating to a single company. Bakelite Xylonite Ltd, also known as British
Xylonite Ltd or BXL, was possibly one of the first British firms to
successfully manufacture a plastics material in commercial quantities. The company was established in 1875 and after
a long history went into liquidation in the late 2000s. The images we have in the collection are
concentrated around the 1960s through to the 1980s and show us glimpses of the
manufacturing process, products and the company’s employees during this time. We plan to share an image each week to give a
flavour of the archive. If you want to
see more you can view the whole collection on our website.
This week’s image shows an aerial view of a factory.
This week’s image shows an aerial view of a factory.
 |
| To get a better view of the image and find out more have a look at it on our website http://www.modip.ac.uk/artefact/bxl--0097 |
We are still working on the documentation of the archive,
some of the images we know more about than others. It would be fantastic if we could fill in
some of the gaps in our knowledge, if you know anything about the company or
specific images it would be good to hear from you.
Louise Dennis (Assistant Curator)
Louise Dennis (Assistant Curator)
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