094 SCI-FI DESIGN
from resin combined with iron filings and shaped using the power of magnets. While the exhibition majors on furniture, it also showcases other disciplines such as fashion, automotive design and a fascinating speculative architectural collaboration by ZYVA Studio and Charlotte Taylor titled Neo- Chemosphere (2021). Te dreamlike building is an homage to John Lautner’s Chemosphere (1960), an octagonal modernist house perched high up in the Hollywood Hills and which resembles an alien spacecraft. Neo- Chemosphere is additionally a response to the Covid-19 pandemic and the broader threat of climate change, the two designers imagining a post-anthropocentric world in which their own octagonal dwelling is wedged between large pink rock forms in a surreal landscape. With a floor plan spanning 14m in diameter, the building’s peaceful interior is finished in white resin, creating a strong contrast with the alien, post-apocalyptic environment outside. Striking a balance between high modernist and space age design, the house is intended as a tribute to the visuals effects that first emerged in mid-1970s cinema. Te designers cite films such as Alien, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Star Wars and Rollerball as key inspirations.
Te exhibition has been designed by prominent Argentine visual artist and designer Andrés Reisinger, whose pared back installation of minimal grey shelves, frosted glass and mirrors, could easily double up as a set design for a Kubrick film. ‘As soon as I was invited by the Vitra Design Museum to work on this exhibition, I knew I wanted to incorporate the themes of Argentine fantasy writer Jorge Luis Borges, whom I’ve long admired,’ he explains. ‘A central motif in his work is mirrors, symbolic of portals to alternate realities. With this in mind, I resolved to honour Borges by making mirrors focal points of the exhibition, utilising them to reflect and evoke multiple realities and timelines intertwining.’ Several works by Reisinger are featured amidst his mirrored hallways, including Shipping Series (2021),
The exhibition has been designed by Andrés Reisinger, whose pared back installation could easily double up as a set design for a Stanley Kubrick film
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17 Andrés Reisinger, Hortensia, 2021
© Vitra Design Museum Photo: Andreas Sütterlin
18 Installation view
Science Fiction Design: From Space Age to Metaverse © Vitra Design Museum Photo: Mark Niedermann
19 Andrés Reisinger, The Shipping, Tangled, 2021 © Reisinger Studio
20 Complicated Sofa, The Shipping, 2021
Artwork by Andrés Reisinger © Reisinger Studio
which comprises ten surreal, digitally rendered furniture pieces that were marketed as NFTs. Some of the virtual items have been turned into real products, such as the extraordinary Hortensia Chair (2018), a futuristic looking seat inspired by hydrangea flowers. Other objects are described as ‘impossible’, including a bulbous pink table that resembles a balloon sculpture and a chrome storage unit with drawers balanced at different angles on an undulating frame.
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