Assembling — Gonzalez Haase 2015
Feb 28 - April 18
"From the history of modern architecture to product design and modern art, the making of spaces for living, gathering and display was always in some ways related to various types of operations that assemble forms in order to produce (create) specific objects and environments." (Hehl Rainer: "Assembling Relations: From Object Form to Interiors and Buildings or vice versa")
For the spring 2015 exhibition, Paul and Carina Jackson have invited the Berlin-based architect duo Pierre Jorge Gonzalez and Judith Haase AAS - Atelier for Architecture and Scenography - to select and assemble design objects from their extensive collection of 20th-century design in the form of a conceptual installation. For the show, AAS confronts the notion of 'assemblage' in relation to the history of modern furniture design, and explores the relationship between space and object from the perspective of an architect. As a natural extension of their spatial practice and influence within the 'Galerienhaus', which AAS designed in 2007, this assemblage renegotiates and ultimately reassembles how we perceive and dissect objects and space.
Gonzalez Haase AAS have selected objects that range from traditional and minimal furniture to reconfigured objects. A publication designed by Frederic Teschner (Paris), featuring an essay by Hehl Rainer (Berlin), is available during the exhibition at Jacksons and at selected locations within Berlin.
Photographs: Thomas Meyer
"The designs of AAS Gonzales Haase are investigations on various modes of assembling, and they are also forming assemblages between building, interior and objects, which are not just challenging convention, but also the viewer’s own imagination." Hehl Rainer
Since founding their Atelier for Architecture and Scenography in Berlin and Paris in 1999, Pierre Jorge Gonzalez and Judith Haase have experimented with new ways of approaching design at the confluence of art and architecture. Designing spaces that are narrative, performative and playful, Gonzalez Haase AAS apply to a range of projects including galleries, residential spaces, as well as to furniture and stage design. The interaction of lighting and architecture remains a primary focus for their conception of spatial contexts.
Rudolfo Bonetto Lamp, 'Luci Sistema Flu Design', 1981. Ref. 5412.
This fully adjustable lamp allows direct or indirect lighting through rotation of both arms. Standing on a triangular foot with vertical lamellas, the lamp can be
mounted onto a wall, ceiling or placed on the floor.
Josef Frank Cabinet, 1940. Ref. 6061.
"In contrast to a rigid set‑up Josef Frank's designs are like assemblages that allocate more loosely distinct parts in space considering interiors as substructures that enable free disposition. Even though despised by his more prominent
colleagues, who accused him of being too inconsistent, he is deemed by some observers (connoisseurs) as founder of
modern Swedish furniture design after moving to Stockholm in the 1930s." Hehl Rainer
Hamletmachine Chair, 1987. Ref. 5431. Designed by Robert Wilson for Heiner Müller's play 'Hamletmachine'.
"If the assemblage becomes a happening it acts like an
instrument that should be versatile enough to assemble almost any kind of imagination and project within a given
space: sound, lighting, object design, architecture, movement, narrative construction, etc. Or, if we put it in
the words of Robert Wilson, who probably more than any other artist is standing for the intersection between
performing arts, scenography, visual arts, object design and architecture: 'The first thing you must know as an
actor or director is the space you will inhabit. See the architecture; imagine where things can happen in space.'" Hehl Rainer
"Time-Life" Stools, 1960's. Ref. 5930.
Known for their innovative contributions to
architecture and furniture design, Charles and Ray Eames are among the most important designers of the
Twentieth Century. Trained as a sculptor, Ray
Eames created these walnut stools for the Time-Life
Building in New York. They later became their favorite pieces. The multifunctional and eccentric design inspired associations from plant stands to abstract chess pieces.
"If we consider assemblages as installations enabling disposition, architecture and furniture design are equally loosing their object quality in favor of multi‑scalar interaction.The distinction between architects who design objects and object designers who conceive architectures is then
loosing ground. The more in-depth knowledge we have about the way things are assembled the more we are able to fine-tune the relationship between parts and the whole. And vice versa, if objects are projected like architectures their performance increase as they have the capacity to absorb more external factors. As soon as
equipment is designed like architecture it acts itself as an assemblage—as a framework for spatial disposition pertinent enough to hold other objects and artifacts (in place)." Hehl Rainer