How can design be explained in a tangible way? This seems to be the driving question (and concept) behind the exhibition “V+W Matrix”, showing at the Marta Herford Museum until May 7, 2006. The protagonists are Oliver Vogt and Hermann Weizenegger, two Berlin-based designers who received international renown with the project DIM “Die imaginäre Manufaktur” (the imaginary factory) – a workshop that involved a group of designers and blind people in the creation of brushes and objects in wicker.
The “V+W Matrix” exhibition seems to best exemplify the mission of the new German museum. Designed by Frank O. Gehry and directed by Jan Hoet, the Marta opened in 2005 with the principle aim of providing a forum to explore the close and complex relationship that now exists between art, design, architecture and industry. The museum thus becomes a field of experimentation into the creative process.
And this is just what “V+W Matrix” is offering: for six weeks the V+W studio will be living and working in the The Living Room, one of the museum’s rooms given over to the exhibition. The visitor can see all the stages involved in the making of an object, from the initial idea to the different production methods and possible uses, thanks to the exhibition’s organisation into various rooms each dedicated to the theme of a different a work in progress. High technology meets artisan workmanship: in line with their research, Vogt and Weizenegger have chosen to demonstrate how design can use mechanical engineering and rapid prototyping as well as handcrafted methods. In this case the manual work is carried out by handicapped guests from Bethel, a social institution in the Herford region.
http://www.marta-herford.de
