The Mirror show is a curated exhibition of contemporary art and design, presenting the mirror as both a beautiful functional object and as poetic subject for experimentation. The exhibition, curated by Klára Šumová and Adam Štěch (OKOLO), documents a strong trend in past years of creating mirrors in the context of contemporary experimental design. The exhibition looks for new shapes, archetypes, the newest trends, as well as a history of typology.
The mirror – it is a reflection of our own world, one that is duplicating and creating precise inverse copies of our reality. The mirror represents a magical object without which we would never know what we look like. As an object, it tells stories which we wish to disclose, and tells them back to us so that we may see them in the right light. The poetical yet surrealist quality of the mirror has always stirred artists, writers, and thinkers, in their ideas and visions. Thus, the mirror has become an object of artistic and philosophical notions, ideas that have frequently found their place on paintings, pages of novels, verses, and films. The mirror is an object that will never cease to fascinate – including the world of design and art.
The exhibition aims to present the mirror not only as a magical object full of imagination and inspiration, but also as a typological theme for designers. They consider the mirror, like all other objects, as a functional and aesthetically balanced object, the production of which requires certain specific features. The exhibition shows various forms of the mirror perceived by contemporary designers and artists. Thus, they face the problem of how to depict the mirror or one of its motifs in their own artistic interpretation. Diverse approaches of contemporary designers are confronted with works of art by visual artists who have also chosen the motif of the mirror as their theme. The result not only presents a set of functional objects, but also a complex perspective of mirrors considered from both functional, formal points of view, as well as from the purely artistic, philosophical, and idea-based points of view.
Zrcadlo/The Mirror
Designblok 2012
Superstudio Clam-Gallasův palác
Husova 20, Prague
1. – 7. 10. 2012
Curators: Adam Štěch, Klára Šumová
Participating Atists: Michal Bačák, Jiří and Viktorie Belda, Jakub Berdych, Camille Blin, Radek Brousil, Uli Budde, deForm, Marco Dessí, Simon Donald, Beatrice Durandard, Antonín Hepnar, Matěj Chabera, Lucie Koldová & Dan Yeffet, Tomáš Král, Blanka Kirchner, Romain Lagrange, Leeda + Dušan Tománek, Kai Linke, Llev, mischer’traxler, Jan Novák, OS ∆ OOS, Jacques-Elie Ribeyron, Adrien Rovero, Klára Šumová, Michaela Tomišková, Jana Trávníčková, Maxim Velčovský, Dirk Wright, Giorgia Zanellato, Martin Žampach
Graphic design: Matěj Činčera, Jan Kloss
Installation: Lenka Míková (edit!)
Production: OKOLO
Partners: Studio Činčera, Signpek, Primalex, Designblok, Elle Decor
Media partners: Architonic, Cool Hunting, Matandme, SightUnseen
Photo: Jaroslav Moravec
