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Beta Tank’s psychedelic environment |
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Rather than presenting another series of limited-edition pieces, this year Design Miami, in collaboration with fashion house Fendi, commissioned four site specific installations. They were meant to reflect the chaos and confusion of the here and now, explained Design Miami’s departing director, Ambra Medda. Walking up to the show venue, viewers encountered a series of jumbled up yellow geometric shapes spanning several buildings and surfaces. But move closer and the apparently unrelated forms start to resolve, eventually becoming a perfect circle within a square shape. These impressive trompe l’oeuil paintings are the work of Swiss artist Felice Varini. Inside, multi-disciplinary studio Beta Tank’s migraine-inducing set was layered with psychedelic forms – on the floor, decorating giant balloons, as well as brandishing the clothes of real life “characters”. It felt like walking into a stereogram – your eyes constantly strained to search for patterns within the patterns. Easier on the eye was interaction design studio Random International’s hypnotic Amplitude light installation. Reacting to movement, the installation is meant to encourage passers-by to play, while London-artist Graham Hudson’s mouthful of a piece “An insignificant extension in space and a considerable extension in time”, aimed to make us climb. The scaffolded sculpture-cum-climbing frame allowed visitors to see the installations from above, offering whole new perspectives as you move around the frame. Alongside the Milan exhibition, Design Miami also announced its Designers of the Future, many of them exhibiting in Spazio Fendi: Beta Tank, Random International, Graham Hudson and Zigelbaum & Coelho. Come June, more site-specific installations can be seen by them at Design Miami’s space at Art Basel.
The entrance of Spazio Fendi by Felice Varini
Random International’s Amplitude light installation
Graham Hudson’s ‘An insignificant extension in space and a considerable extension in time’ |
Words Anna Bates |
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