28 Sep 2022 | People,Spaces

Michael Anastassiades’ curation at MAK in Vienna builds bridges between historical and contemporary design.

The “golden globes” of the Vienna Secession are rediscovered through an exhibition/homage to Austrian Design.

DS.WRITER:

Sophia Throuvala

Image source: michaelanastassiades.com

Michael Anastassiades is mostly known for designing and manufacturing high-quality lighting, even though he is also active in many other sectors of contemporary design (like Glass Design for J. & L. Lobmeyr and Furniture Design for Gebrüder Thonet Vienna). Moreover, he practices exhibition and interior design. Until this October he is exhibiting at the historic Wiener Werkstätte (WW), in the room above the MAK Permanent Collection of Vienna. The Wiener Werkstätte, which literally means "Vienna workshop", was founded in 1903 by Koloman Moser, Fritz Waerndorfer and Josef Hoffmann, with the aim of bringing together Viennese architects, artists and designers. It is an innovative workshop, dedicated to the artistic production of utilitarian and everyday objects, i.e. furniture and decorations. It has its roots in the historic Vienna Secession, founded in 1897 as a progressive alliance of artists and designers, while the Wiener Werkstätte is in turn an ancestor of Bauhaus and Art Deco.

Anastassiades, in this case, deals with processing and manufacturing objects based on the glorious tradition of this innovative workshop. The Cypriot, London-based designer was asked to select objects from the MAK depository, studying deeply the collection of the Secession and WW art specialist Ernst Ploil (who, in the spirit of the Gesamtkunstwerk, collected a number of important objects and works such as vases by Lötz, furniture from Klimt's workshop and works by Schiele, even minimalist paintings by Gerhard Richter, Josef Albers and Ad Reinhardt, trying to better understand the social implications of the Postwar Abstraction).

Image source: michaelanastassiades.com

This exhibition, curated by Anastassiades, in the long hall above the iconic MAK permanent collection, highlights the relationship of contemporary design with its roots. The designer, not only weaves the historical thread connecting the present with the past but also integrates insightful commentary on the distinctive geometric abstraction of the early period of the Wiener Werkstätte. The pedestals, placed by Anastassiades, create the impression that it is a game of balance since the objects are supported on apparently unstable golden globes. This symbol, an obvious reference to Vienna’s “golden age” and the Secession building’s iconic “Golden Cabbage” dome, is also a wave to the flexibility and interstitial nature of historical and contemporary design, which can intermingle without coinciding. The globe has many connotations since it is, apart from a reference to the Secession, an integral element of Anastassiades' own work, while it’s also a classic element of furniture of the WWII period (during the Biedermeier era, when they often formed the legs of cupboards). Anastassiades' brass spheres are complemented, almost compulsively, by spherically rendered lights, which were curated and designed by himself for this particular exhibition.

Image source: michaelanastassiades.com

Through the exhibition and Anastassiades' choices in setting up and organizing the space, new, exciting versions of Viennese modernism are presented. MAK (Museum of Applied Arts) continues in this exhibition too the tradition that started some decades ago, inviting artists and designers from all over the world to renew and shape the museum, reinterpreting its historical collection and giving a modern breath to the historical design.

This exhibition runs until October 2.