Check out my interview with Dutch designer Marcel Wanders for Clear Magazine‘s December issue here. Marcel was a real pleasure, speaking about his new retrospective exhibit at the Philadelphia Museum of Art (his first major solo show in the US), how he’s changed as a designer over the last two decades, his latest collaborations, and what he’s learned in his career thus far….

*images courtesy of Marcel Wanders Studio and Clear Magazine

This winter, the Art Institute of Chicago presents German designer Konstantin Grcic‘s first US solo show. Grcic has made a career of subverting and reinterpreting familiar social and cultural references in such a way as to make them strangely, fascinatingly, unfamiliar. His minimalistic work sharpens the senses, making us question common objects we so often take for granted, and how they define the spaces in which we move. Chairs, desks, lamps, kitchen equipment, you name it: all just different enough to raise our antennae, but still recognizably approachable.

I had the opportunity to preview the exhibit for Clear Magazine‘s December issue, and the full story is available by clicking here.

Jordan Cammarata, an Industrial Design student at Philadelphia University,  recently earned top honors with his PULL lamp (above), winning the 2009 Collab Student Design Competition. Sponsored by the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Collab winner was announced during last week’s Marcel Wanders opening at the Museum.

As Cammarata explains it, the PULL lamp is a contemporary interpretation of Harvey Hubbell‘s pull chain socket, patented in 1896. By pulling the chain (also the stand), the light glows from the pull chain itself. The off-center position of the pull chain, inspired by its natural orientation, is counterintuitive to the casual observer. Inspired by Wanders’ work, PULL embodies the creative use of materials and unconventional style so characteristic of the award-winning Dutch designer’s work.

*image courtesy of Jordan Cammarata

"Amy Winehouse May 18, 2007;" photograph by Max Vadukul; 24 x 36 in. (61 x 91.4 cm) © Max Vadukul Lender: Max Vadukul; courtesy of Brooklyn Museum of Art

Next week,  the Brooklyn Museum opens an exhibit solely devoted to rock ‘n’ roll photographers from 1955 through today.

Who Shot Rock & Roll will feature an impressive collection for sure, featuring around 175 photos by 105 photographers: including everything from Andreas Gursky‘s nine-by-seven-foot tour-de-force of Madonna performing in 2001, to Don Hunstein‘s photo of Bob Dylan walking with then girlfriend Suze Rotolo down a snowy Greenwich Village street, to Dennis Hopper‘s photo of James Brown, surrounded by female fans, to the contact sheet of Bob Gruen‘s portrait of John Lennon in a sleeveless New York City t-shirt, or Amy Winehouse on her wedding day (above), shot by Max Vadukul, and William “Red” Robertson’s 1955 portrait of a pelvis-thrusting Elvis, which later became his first album cover.

Most photos are on loan from the photographers’ personal collections.

The exhibit will also include music videos by artists featured in the exhibit, an 80-image slide show and a rock ‘n’ roll chronology made out of actual album covers.

Who Shot Rock & Roll: A Photographic History opens October 30, 2009, and runs through January 31, 2010. For more info, visit www.brooklynmuseum.org

Personal Edition Crochet Chair by Marcel Wanders

This November, the Philadelphia Museum of Art welcomes visionary Dutch designer Marcel Wanders in a self-designed, self-curated exhibition called “Marcel Wanders: Daydreams.” This will be a dreamlike, multimedia installation of objects personally selected by Wanders to represent pivotal points in his 20+ year career. Video images, lighting, and sound will illuminate his creative development over the years.

New films—detailing Wanders’s design process and philosophy in projects ranging from manufactured products, hotel interiors, and design art—will also make their public debut at the retrospective. The films’ soundscapes will provide Wanders’s personal views on design.

“Marcel Wanders: Daydreams”
Philadelphia Museum of Art
Curated by Kathryn Hiesinger
November 22, 2009- June 13, 2010

For more information, visit Philadelphia Museum of Art.
And look for my interview w/Wanders coming up in the next issue of Clear Magazine!