As Superstudio researches and studies about the Super-surface proved, surfaces can be extremely intriguing things. According to Superstudio, this sci-fi abstract concept was a sort of limitless space offering multiple possibilities to people.
The Super-surface was indeed an architectural concept that destroyed architecture and that was best applied to the human habitat. In our times the theories behind the Super-surface have been embodied by that endless platform called the Internet. Yet, while some of us may be spending a lot of their time in a digital dimension, working, playing, chatting and interacting in an abstract space, all of us live in a real world and are surrounded by the physicality of things and therefore by objects with real surfaces.
An exhibition opening in January at the Het Nieuwe Instituut (Museumpark 25, Rotterdam, The Netherlands) will be dedicated to these surfaces, even though it will also be bearing in mind Superstudio's Super-surface.
Curated by product designer Chris Kabel and design practice Koehorst in 't Veld (Jannetje in 't Veld and Toon Koehorst), and part of the long-term programme strand "The Things and The Materials", "Designing the Surface" (from 29th January till 25th June 2017), looks at the different functions of the external layer in products.
Different surfaces – raw, rough, smooth, shiny or in bright and vivid colours – attract the eye and stimulate the senses, while strengthening, preserving or disguising a specific product or its function. At times surfaces also offer contradictions and even juxtapositions: in recent years we have indeed seen products made by a craftsman and finished by a machine or vice versa. In a nutshell, varnishes, coatings and other forms of surface treatment play different roles in our appreciation of materials and objects, but also have an impact in the space surrounding them.
The exhibition is divided in five themes, each of them approaching the phenomenon of "finish" and exploring the way in which a product interacts with our aesthetic and sensory needs or in which answers a functional requirement.
The theme "Patina" looks at finishes produced by the result of wear and tear, so at the influence of climate, sunlight or chemicals, or the passing of time. "Lustre" analyses how glistening coatings give products their irresistible glare and sparkle, while the next one - "Teflon" - is about repelling all forms of contact and looks at coatings that have been developed to make objects more hygienic and antiseptic.
"Faux" explores instead the way highly skilled craftsmen created cosmetic layers that mimicked marble or tropical woods and looks at a very interesting dichotomy between the mastership that went into imitating specific materials in the past as opposed to modern cheap imitations.
The next theme - "Agency" - revolves around ordinary finishes such as the use of paint on walls and objects. The theme is explored at different levels, since it is applied to domestic interiors and public spaces, and incudes new ranges of coatings.
The final layer is what make things desirable, but it is also what grants an object its functionality: there are indeed invisible anti-graffiti, non-stick, rainproof or anti-Wi-Fi coatings, while the automotive industry has developed cheaper, safer and stronger coatings.
The exhibition - featuring Bastiaan de Nennie, Chris Kabel, Lex Pott , Nathalie du Pasquier, Pierre Marie Giraud, Raymond Leeuwenburg, Takuro Kuwata, Tijmen Smeulders, and Van der Kelen-Logelain - will take place on the ground floor of the Het Nieuwe Instituut, where architectural practice Monadnock designed a series of pavilions containing cabinets of curiosities of extraordinary and unexpected objects, projects, and technologies all of them focusing on the outer skin. Some of the techniques that will be explored in these compact pavilions are well known (think about transparent glass becoming a mirror); others such as water transfer printing or reflective paint used to coat reindeer antlers in Finland to prevent them getting hit by cars are extremely fascinating.
Visitors who have a passion for colours should pay particular attention to crazy marbles and ponder a bit in front of the paint gun (a paint-filled super-soaker) used during the recent "Sharena Revolutsiya" (the "Colourful Revolution") in Macedonia.
The tension between preservation and deterioration, seduction and repulsion is present throughout the entire exhibition. Deterioration is also explored via a fountain designed by Lex Pott, containing objects with a variety of coatings sprayed with a corrosive fluid so that the materials begin to break down.
With this event the Het Nieuwe Instituut invites people to consider also the surfaces in other areas of the building, extending their attention to the car park, the façade of structure, the café spaces or the textures of the coats and objects in the cloakroom.
While allowing visitors to explore the world of surfaces, the event will also prompt professional designers and students to find new applications and functions that can be developed through finishes. A tip for fashion designers? Move from the surface theme to consider the outer layer in clothes and accessories, the tactile or kinetic power of woven surfaces and the possibilities that innovative procedures such as nanotechnology can offer.
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