The Design Line: 30 April - 6 May
What ties together drone chaos in Hamburg, a multi-billion pound infrastructure announcement in London, seismic rhythm in Seoul, and historical dress fury in New York? The Design Line, that’s what!
We would have liked to have seen more of this (image: Bertold Fabricius, via Studio Drift).
Drones unleashed
Our heart goes out to Ralph Nauta and Lonneke Gordijn of Studio Drift. This week, the pair took to Instagram to announce that their Breaking Waves installation celebrating the fifth anniversary of Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie would have to be cancelled after the project’s dress rehearsal and inaugural performance were “massively disrupted by foreign high-speed drones”. Drift’s project was simple in its conception: a choreographed outdoor ballet of 300 illuminated drones, whose movements were designed to echo and explore the architecture of the Elbphilharmonie, which had been designed by Herzog & de Meuron. Sadly, the means of disruption proved were similarly simple: unknown pilots flew additional drones into the choreography, resulting in “several collisions” that caused multiple drones to crash. It’s a cruel, remarkably pointless fate for an installation that could have been (and briefly was) beautiful, and which Studio Drift had clearly devoted themselves too. Nauta and Gordijn noted that aviation security authorities had informed them that “there have never been disruptions to air traffic of this intensity and aggressiveness in Germany”. It all adds to the mystery: why would people try so hard to ruin something so benign?
A dressing down
Few of the attendants at this week’s Met Gala stuck to the theme of The Gilded Age, but it’s rare for museum conservationists to get up in arms over celebrity fashion. This year, however, white-glove brigade are upset, not by the lack of mutton-leg sleeves and bustles, but by Kim Kardashian’s five-minute trip down the red carpet in a dress made for Marilyn Monroe, which usually lives in a temperature and humidity-controlled vault. “It sets back what is considered professional treatment for historic costume,” said expert conservator Sarah Scaturro. “This is one of a kind, historical garment that should not leave the museum,” agreed fashion historian Keren Ben-Horin. Kardashian donned the crystal-encrusted dress that was designed for Monroe by Hollywood costumier Jean-Louis, and which she wore to serenade President JF Kennedy in 1962. Fresh from her divorce from her famously fashion-controlling ex-husband, Kardashian decided to use this year’s Met Gala as a re-run of last year’s theme of America, so borrowed the multi-million dollar dress, along with its security guards, from Ripley’s Believe It Or Not Museum. To be fair to Kardashian, she immediately switched into a replica after the arrival photos. But the whole performance was more than a little ghoulish, with Vogue breathlessly – and irresponsibly – publishing Kardashian’s punishing weight-loss regimen to try and fit the dress, and Ripley’s inexplicably gifting her a box of Monroe’s hair to go alongside the loan. While the garment is an inanimate if valuable piece of design history, it shouldn’t be forgotten that Norma Jean was a person before she was an icon.
A fine haul for Saul
It’s a hell of a time to be Saul Nash. Last month saw the dance choreographer and menswear designer win the AU$200,000 2022 Woolmark Prize, with judges praising his garments that incorporate principles of sportswear and which are designed to encourage and celebrate movement. “Everyone did a great job and could have been a winner,” said one of the prize’s judges Riccardo Tisci. “But what Saul did, coming from a ballet background to replace lycra with wool was really incredible.” This week, Nash doubled his success when he was selected by the British Fashion Council (BFC) as the recipient of the 2022 Queen Elizabeth II Award for British Design. “Nash has a unique way of combining function, tech and tailoring in his design practice which has resulted in a new take on luxe sportswear,” said Caroline Rush, the BFC’s chief executive. “His work explores the relationship between performance and menswear and is often showcased through beautiful and show-stopping choreography.” Rush, clearly, is the man of the moment, but his work is exciting and progressive, blurring different fields to thrilling effect. Like seemingly everyone else, Design Line can’t wait to see what he does next.
Boom! Shake the room
When a tall building starts shaking it’s a cause for serious concern, so it was a relief for all involved when the mystery tremors plaguing a tower in Seoul turned out to have a benign cause. Earlier this year, the fire department was called after frightened residents of Tower D of Acro Seoul Forest reported the floor shaking beneath their feat. Tensions were understandably high following the tragic collapse of a building in Gwangju in June 2021, which killed nine people. Unable to find the origin of the tower tremors, however, building managers LB Asset Management called upon the Architectural Institute of Korea to undertake a formal investigation. Now the results are in and the culprit found: “concentrated, rhythmic group movement”. Kpop, it turns out, is to blame. By monitoring vibrations on each floor, the Institute isolated the 9th and 10th floors of Tower D, which are home to the practice rooms of idol groups signed by SM Entertainment. So enthusiastic and on beat were the rehearsing pop stars that 30 seconds or more of choreographed foot tapping sets the whole building a-jig. “There are no concerns involving safety or related to the architectural design and construction method. Overall, the building is stable,” concluded the architects’ report. “However, we recommend installing devices which can control large vibrations.”
Just think, soon this will be able to bear down upon you in person (image: TFL).
Elizabeth pulls into town
Londoners, mark your calendars: close to four years after it was initially planed, the central section of the long awaited £18.9bn Elizabeth Line underground is due to open for business on 24 May. Announced this week by Transport for London (TFL) and Sadiq Khan, the city’s mayor, the new line is due to run between Paddington and Stratford/Abbey Wood (with further sections connecting London to Reading and Shenfied to follow in the future) and should provide ample points of interest for the design curious: station design from 10 different studios – including the likes of Grimshaw Architects, Hawkins\Brown Architects, Weston Williamson and WilkinsonEyre – as well as a new train from Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby in conjunction with Map Project Office. Regardless of one’s feelings about London receiving close to £19bn in new transport infrastructure when other parts of the UK have seen rail projects scrapped or otherwise diminished, the line’s opening is an important moment in the design history of TFL: a transport organisation whose credentials in this field stand second to none. So, start planning: what better way to mark Queen Elizabeth II’s upcoming Platinum Jubilee than by shuttling between Paddington and Abbey Wood, admiring roundels?
Put that thing back where it came from, or so help me
Calls for Western institutions to return stolen artefacts to their home countries from governments and activists have been growing ever louder, and this week saw the Smithsonian Institution become one of the first to acknowledge them. On Tuesday, the Smithsonian announced that it was formally authorising the 21 museums it oversees to repatriate pieces in their collections that have been looted or unethically acquired. Previously the Smithsonian’s position had been the rather ignoble stance taken by most museums that possession is nine-tenths of the law – if rich donors have bequeathed items of murky provenance, then they wouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth. That attitude, thankfully, no longer flies. The Smithsonian has already given back a gold disc to Peru and is liaising with Nigeria’s National Commission for Museums and Monuments to return the Benin Bronzes – stolen by the British Army in 1987 – to their ancestral homelands. It’s an important precedent to set. British Museum release the Parthenon marbles challenge.