Curated diary: Deyan Sudjic


Deyan Sudjic, director of the soon to be reopened Design Museum in London, picks his top events and exhibitions to see this autumn


1. Roger Tallon: Design in Motion, Musée Des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, Until 8 January

Roger Tallon was the French Kenneth Grange; the man who made France modern. He was responsible for the dynamic look of the TGV, but also the Lip watch, and a whole array of cameras, television sets, lamps, installations and graphics. He gave the Musée des arts décoratifs, heroically accommodated on the rue de rivoli right next to the Louvre, his archive before he died in 2011. This show is a celebration of his work that offers a specifically French version of modernity.www.lesartsdecoratifs.fr

2. Design Miami / 2016, Miami, 30 November – 4 December

design Miami
Image credit: James Harris

Go at least once to Miami Beach’s jaw-dropping aircraft carrier of a contemporary art fair that is art Basel, with design Miami alongside more on the scale of a dinghy. But go also for Miami itself, where high-rise condos designed by everyone from Zaha Hadid to Herzog and de Meuron are taking shape, and hotelier extraordinaire Alan Faena has opened the Faena Hotel, with a Damien Hirst gold-plated dinosaur in a glass box on the beach, and an interior designed by Baz Luhrmann. www.designmiami.com

3. Robert Rauschenberg, Tate Modern, London, 1 December – 2 April

robert rauschenberg
Image credit: Robert Rauschenberg, Retroactive II, 1963, photo: Nathan Keay, MCA Chicago

Robert Rauschenberg follows Georgia O’Keefe in a roll call of American art stars at the Tate. Rauschenberg’s remarkable career saw him explore every medium, and produce works of great force. Rauschenberg was part of the generation that made New York the world’s art capital in the Fifties. The exhibition includes material from his work with experimentation in art and Technology, which he helped to set up in 1967 mixing performance art with architectural projects and computer scientists. www.tate.org.uk

4. The Vulgar: Fashion redefined, Barbican Art Gallery, London, 13 October – 5 February

The Vulgar: Fashion redefined Barbican Art Gallery
Image credit: Walter van Beirendonck, hat: Stephen Jones, Autumn/Winter 2010 - 2011, copyright Ronald Stoops

Vulgar lays it on the line: the Barbican asks us to swallow hard and confront the most uncomfortable of issues, taste. Fashion is always a dance, whose rules are specifically designed to exclude those who don’t know the rules, or are unaware that there are rules. While ‘vulgar’ is a difficult word to handle in an exhibition title it’s even more difficult to handle as a fashion concept, where deliberate flouting of convention only works if both parties are aware of the irony involved. www.barbican.org.uk

5. Fear and Love, Design Museum, London, 24 November – 23 April

Fear and Love, Design Museum

Design Museum chief curator Justin McGuirk’s opening show for the Design Museum in its new home sets out to explore the state of contemporary design with a set of immersive installations that explore issues from identity to privacy. The exhibition will explore the pace of change in our modern world and whether this is something to be praised and embraced or feared and stopped. Sam Jacobs is designing the show with contributions from OMA, Neri Oxman, Andres Jaque and others. www.designmuseum.org

6. A Revolutionary Impulse: The Rise of the Russian Avant-Garde, MoMA, New York, 4 December – 12 March

Revolutionary Impulse: The Rise of the Russian Avant-Garde MoMA
Image credit: Gustav Klutsis: Memorial to fallen leaders, 1927, copyright 2016 / Artists

MoMA gets in on the anniversary of the russian revolution ahead of the pack, while a variety of institutions from Tate to the Design Museum will be looking back at 1917 in 2017. MoMA, with its recent decision to give up on a permanent display of its architecture and design collection but instead display architecture alongside art in its other installations, will combine photography, art and architecture in this exciting exhibition. www.moma.org

Main image credit: Les Arts Decoratifs, Paris / A.D.A.G.P, 2016








Progressive Media International Limited. Registered Office: 40-42 Hatton Garden, London, EC1N 8EB, UK.Copyright 2024, All rights reserved.