Typecasting

Vitra invited me to curate and design a panorama of its vast current and past production. I selected the works amongst current production models, but also objects from the collection of the Vitra Design Museum, prototypes, design studies and experimental objects of past projects. The term Typecasting is used in the film business when an actor is repeatedly cast for similar stereotypical roles, such as the villain, the vamp, the action hero or the beauty. In the installation I have applied this process to furniture. By presenting objects as characters, Typecasting reflects contemporary modes of self-staging as well as the strategies of collecting friends and likes on social media. Inspired by the related strategy of joining various 'communities', the 200 objects and furnishings in this exhibition are joined into nine different groups: The Communals, the Compulsive Organizers, The Slashers, The Dreamers, The Beauty Contestants, The Dating Site Encounters, The Spartans, The Restless and The Athletes. Looking at familiar objects through the lens of self-staging and image cultivation aims to sharpen the perception of furniture’s role in defining our personal and social profiles.

Commissioned by:
Vitra

Curator and exhibition designer:
Robert Stadler

Photos:

Julien Lanoo: 1-7
Eduardo Perez: 8