THE ART NEWSPAPER Number 248, July/August 201330

EXHIBITIONS Continental Europe

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Stockholm. Pop art took its inspirationfrom consumer culture, but what im-pact did it have on contemporary de-sign? “Pop Art Design” at ModernaMuseet aims to answer this question.The show seeks to define Pop as partof a narrative in which traditionalboundaries between high and popularculture broke down.

“In 1970, the Italian designer DinoGavina’s Studio Simon appropriated theCampbell soup tin, which Andy Warholhad already portrayed in numerousworks and successfully linked to hispersona. They turned it into a functionalobject again—a stool called Omaggio adAndy Warhol [tribute to Andy Warhol],”says Matilda Olof-Ors of Moderna Museet,who co-organised the show in Stockholmwith Mathias Schwartz-Clauss, a formercurator at the Vitra Design Museum,Weil am Rhein.

Wider viewThis is the first major survey to treatPop as a discipline that affected every-thing from advertising to product de-sign. Olof-Ors believes that one reasonit has taken so long to stage such ashow could be that “many art museumsdon't collect design, and vice versa”.

However, she is certain that we willsee more shows in the future that willlook at “a period or movement ratherthan present the art or architecture ofthe period as isolated phenomena”.

For “Pop Art Design”, the ModernaMuseet and the Louisiana Museum ofModern Art, Humlebaek, were ap-proached by the Vitra Design Museum.The exhibition, which has already beenhosted by the two latter institutions,will travel to the Barbican Art Galleryin London (22 October-9 February 2014).The Vitra Design Museum has lent 71works on display, while ModernaMuseet and Louisiana have contributed19 and 17 works respectively.

Six of the designs exhibited are stillproduced by Vitra, a Swiss furniture

company that owns the Vitra DesignMuseum. This commercial connectionmight prove uncomfortable for some.In 2009, when Liljevalchs Konsthall,Stockholm, held a show of IKEA furni-ture sponsored by the Swedish furnituregiant, critics questioned whether publicinstitutions should collaborate withcorporations with vested interests. Inthe case of “Pop Art Design”, the Mod-erna Museet’s co-director Ann-Sofi Nor-ing says: “Every exhibition has its owncontent and goals and receives its owncriticism. No items from Vitra will besold at Moderna Museet and no com-mercial events will be arranged. Vitrais a part of the history of Pop design,and an institution that can’t be reducedto only having commercial interests.”Johan Deurell• Pop Art Design, Moderna Museet,Stockholm, 29 June-22 September

Pop goes the Swedish weaselModerna Museet explores the relationship between Pop art and Modern design

AUCTION IN SANTA FE

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2013 Schedule of Events

Held at Hilton Santa Fe Historic Plaza Hotel, 100 Sandoval Street, Santa FePresented by Manitou Auctions

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FINE ART & NATIVE AMERICAN ARTIFACTS

Birger Sandzén (1871 - 1954)Valley & Mountain, Manitou, Colo.One of several original works by Sandzén in the upcoming auction

In briefDog daysGustavsberg. The Swedish fashion houseAcne featured Weimaraner dogs pho-tographed by the US artist WilliamWegman in its advertising campaign thisseason. Now Wegman’s canines will wagtheir tails for “Hello Nature” (until 23September), a retrospective at the pri-vately owned Artipelag, which opened lastyear. Wegman is known for his photo-graphs, children’s books and films, many ofwhich feature his dogs. Bo Nilsson, theartistic director of Artipelag, says:“Wegman’s work raises important ques-tions about our relationship with natureand has the ability to speak to a broad audi-ence.” Will Weimaraners become a fashioncraze? “I hope not,” he says. “I've had onefor almost 14 years. It’s a complicated dogthat needs a lot of stimulation.” J.D.

A Louvre-Pompidou showParis. Two of Paris's biggest museums, theCentre Georges Pompidou and the Louvre,are collaborating for the first time with anexhibition by the French conceptual artistLoris Gréaud (born 1979). In the Pompidou'senormous entrance hall, the artist has builta 15-metre tower, which will see performersfall like lemmings onto an inflated cushionbelow (until 15 July). The Louvre, mean-while, will house a 10-metre-high sculptureby Gréaud beneath its distinctive pyramid.The piece is a copy of a Michelangelo sculp-ture at the museum, but it will remain hid-den under drapery to heighten anticipation

of the sculpture's “moment of unveiling”,Gréaud says. Both works are on show in thefree, publicly accessible areas of the muse-ums. “I wanted the sculptures to have animmediacy so that people can have an artexperience without knowing anythingabout art,” he says. The piece will be on dis-play at the Louvre until 9 December. J.Mi.

“Vitra is an institutionthat can’t be reducedto only havingcommercial interests”

George Nelson,Marshmallow,Sofa, 1956;Verner Panton,Ring Lamps,1969/2000

Complicated:WilliamWegman’sSlightly, 1999

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