Exhibition

SUR/FACE: Mirrors

24 June – 1 October 2017

On the façades of bank towers, in boutiques, gyms and lobbies, in our homes and on our smartphones – everywhere you look, there are mirrored surfaces. Why are reflective materials so tremendously popular these days?

How are mirror effects used in design, and how does art reflect on them? And what is the impact of the omnipresent experience of mirrors on us human beings? The exhibition SUR/FACE: Mirrors focused on the phenomenon of the mirrored surface in art, design and architecture of the present. On 1,200 square metres of floor space, the show featured products by such designers as Ron Arad, Ettore Sottsass and Oskar Zieta and artworks by Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian, Isa Genzken, Andy Warhol and many others. More than a hundred objects made of mirrored glass, highly polished metal or reflective plastic attracted the viewer’s gaze, steered it, occasionally confounded it, and offered it new perspectives.

In the characteristic architecture of the Richard Meier building with its views of the bank towers making up the Frankfurt skyline, the exhibition staged two spacious, abstract domestic situations reminiscent of lofts or temporary residences. In these settings, reflective design objects and furniture formed different interiors based on everyday lifeworlds. The viewers thus encountered rooms of everyday “mirror moments” both familiar and somehow different: from the public setting of a mirrored lobby the route led through rooms of a more private nature such as the living and dining room and into the bedroom and bathroom as the most intimate domestic zones. Artworks, most of them mirrored themselves, entered into relationships with the interiors and reflected on the subject of reflection.

The publication accompanying the exhibition delved into the mirrored surface against the backgrounds of design theory, psychoanalysis and the history of art and culture. It consolidated the curatorial team’s thoughts and researched on the subject of the mirror.

Curatorial Team: Juliane Duft, Dr Mahret Kupka, Dr Christine Nippe, Matthias Wagner K
Curatorial Assistance: Leonie Wiegand


Artists to be featured in the exhibition:
John M. Armleder, Bernadette Corporation, Monica Bonvicini, Tom Burr, Keren Cytter, Latifa Echakhch, Olafur Eliasson, Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian, Sylvie Fleury, Isa Genzken, Dan Graham, Olaf Holzapfel, Mathias Kiss, Mischa Kuball, Josephine Meckseper, Olaf Nicolai, Tobias Rehberger, Thomas Rentmeister, Katharina Sieverding, Amalia Ulman, Andy Warhol, Pae White, Claudia Wieser, Heimo Zobernig

Designers and labels to be featured in the exhibition:
0cp, Marco Acerbis, Alessi, Alfi, Neven Allgeier + Benedikt Fischer, Michael Anastassiades, Ron Arad, Aranda\Lasch, Arclinea, Artemide, Barber & Osgerby, Leonie Barth, BD Barcelona Design, Boffi, Ayzit Bostan, Ronan + Erwan Bouroullec, Braun, Maria Bruun, Uli Budde, Campana Brothers, Cassina, Achille Castiglioni, Karen Chekerdjian, Nina Cho, Václav Cigler, Antonio Citterio + Toan Nguyen, Claesson Koivisto Rune, Decor Walther, De Padova, Daft Punk + Daft Arts, Wilton C. Dinges, Tom Dixon, Doshi Levien, Beatrice Durandard, Duscholux, e15, Edra, Emeco, Jean-Baptiste Fastrez, Felicia Ferrone, Flos, FontanaArte,
Enrico Franzolini, Fredrikson Stallard, Robert Lee Fritz, Naoto Fukasawa, Glas Italia, Stine Goya + John Kørner, Benjamin Graindorge, Johanna Grawunder, Halb/Halb, Makio Hasuike, Haw-lin Services, Sebastian Herkner, Ulla + Martin Kaufmann, KEF, Rodney Kinsman, Tomáš Král, Romain Lagrange, Ligne Roset, Jonas Lindstroem, Kai Linke, Ross Lovegrove, Magis, Vico Magistretti, Philipp Mainzer, Maison Margiela, Richard Meier, Roberto Menghi, mischer’traxler, Jasper Morrison, MYKILOS, MYKITA, nuuna, Paustian, PB 0110, Pulpo, Pussykrew, Karim Rashid, Rooms, Daniel Rybakken, Klaus Schmidhuber, Scholten & Baijings, Tijmen Smeulders, Soft Baroque, Ettore Sottsass, Philippe Starck, Elisa Strozyk, Sucuk und Bratwurst, Jonah Takagi, Technogym, Oswald Mathias Ungers, Maiken Walther, Reinhold Weiss, Wilkens & Söhne, Verreum, Voon Wong + Benson Saw, Oskar Zieta

Ronan + Erwan Bouroullec, Palanco Double Sided Mirror, 2015

Andy Warhol, Silver Clouds, 1966
Marco Acerbis, Pond Table, 2006 + Elisa Strozyk, Folded Mirror 1, 2015
Sylvie Fleury, Evian Bottle, 1998

With generous support from


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