Exploring Architecture in the Bouroullecs’ Circus
Collab Design Excellence Award Exhibition 2021
Opening November 20, 2021, Circus: Bouroullec Designs is the latest Collab Design Excellence Award exhibition to be held at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, honoring the designers Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec (French, b. 1971 and 1976, respectively). The exhibit is notable as the first to be held in the new Collab Gallery, which is dedicated to showing the best of contemporary design and has been made possible by the generosity of Lisa Roberts and David Seltzer.
Right to Left: Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec in their Paris studio. Photo © Alexandre Tabaste.
The exhibition has been meticulously planned by Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec and their studio, in partnership with museum staff. Its focus is on works designed and produced in roughly the past decade, featuring favorite and spectacular pieces, including divider systems like “Cloud,” produced by Kvadrat, refined series of objects such as the “Alcova” collection by WonderGlass, and examples of their versatile and innovative approach to furniture, including the new “Rope” chair by Artek.
“Alcova” 2018, designed by Ronan Bouroullec and Erwan Bouroullec. Made by WonderGlass, Venice, Italy. Handmade cast glass, dimensions variable. Photo © Claire Lavabre
Their spirit, playful design sensibility, and desire to create comfort or wonder for those who encounter their designs reflects the meaning behind the exhibit, a metaphor of the joyful and unexpected experience of the circus, and the roles of their works as performers and entertainers within.
A part of the presentation explores the recent architectural projects undertaken by Ronan and Erwan. This expanded role for their designs in urban environments as well as natural settings has become a more and more significant part of their practice, following the exhibition “Rêveries Urbaines” in Rennes and at the Vitra Design Museum in 2016, which explored the possible development of projects for urban centers and the interaction of nature within the city, to render it “a place of enchantment.”
Nuage Promenade, Miami, 2017, designed by Ronan Bouroullec and Erwan Bouroullec. ©Paul Tahon and R & E Bouroullec
Examples of these architectural projects completed since include: the Nuage Promenade in Miami’s Design District (2017); installations on the Vitra Campus in Weil am Rhein, Germany (2018); the Fountains at the Rond-Point of the Champs-Élysées in Paris (2019); “Le Belvédère,” a tower extending into the Vilaine river, in Rennes, France (2020); and the exterior furnishings around the spectacular, very recently opened Bourse de commerce - Pinault Collection museum in Paris (2021).
Their shift toward architectural projects is represented by a group of unique working models generously lent to the museum by the Bouroullec studio. Their presence in the exhibition gives visitors an insight into their process, which begins with drawing and experimenting with ideas on paper, then stages of working models to successfully resolve the challenges asked of their design, and then further resolved in partnership with makers and manufacturers before production. This is obviously a well-honed practice for all designers, but the meticulousness and thought behind all of Ronan and Erwan’s solutions is exceptional. Their whimsical approach, minimal use of line and apparent simplicity of the solutions is also part of the Bouroullecs’ magic, hiding the great pains taken to ensure the success of their projects.
The exhibition will feature models of the Rennes Belvédère, the “Drapeau” from the front courtyard of the Bourse de Commerce, and two models relating to the series of fountains made for the Rond-Point of the Champs-Élysées. Fascinating for their detail, the presentation of these critical elements of their process will be further enhanced with video screens showing the completed architectural projects in situ. Quite beyond the formal properties of the models and the Bouroullecs’ elegant sense of line and form that they convey, the video will play important roles in situating the works within their urban settings, conveying a sense of place, presence and scale that is otherwise impossible to convey in a museum exhibition. Furthermore, this will allow visitors to understand that all of these designs have a changing aspect, for example, the rotation of weather vanes upon the sides of the Belvedere, or the liquid movement of the shimmering fabric flag placed at the forecourt of the Pinault Collection.
While the models themselves are made from humble modeling staples such as wire and wood, seen together with video and alongside the other designs in the show, the objects will illuminate the Bouroullecs’ sensitivity toward the selection of materials and their effects. This is certainly the case with the three projects presented as models in Philadelphia, from the flag’s fabric to the materials of its flagpole that recall the gold tips and details of so many Parisian monuments, or the rich brassy tones of the Belvédère and the sparkling crystal of the fountains. Materials are integral to the success of these works and heighten their impression on those who encounter them.
A wonderful pair of models will allow visitors to appreciate the arrangement of the six extraordinary fountains designed by the Bouroullecs around the “Rond-Point” at the intersection of the Avenue Franklin Delano Roosevelt (near the Grand Palais) with the Champs-Élysées, the famous avenue that runs from the Place de la Concorde to the Arc de Triomphe. Each fountain is over 40 feet high and fashioned from bronze masts supporting illuminated crystal chains dropping a cascade of water into basins below. The fountains rotate, catch the light, and are illuminated from within the crystals at nighttime, offering a surprising variety of aspects and joyful reactions from passersby.
Fountain at the Rond-Point des Champs-Elysées, Paris, 2019, designed by Ronan Bouroullec and Erwan Bouroullec. ©Claire Lavabre / Studio Bouroullec
What all these architectural works have in common is a desire to create an atmosphere, to deepen and enhance a connection to or emotional experience of place, and to build a sense of surprise and wonder within the urban landscape. As the Bouroullecs have said, “We’ve been interested in cities and in particular the question of magic, wonder and enchantment.” I believe wonder will also be the overriding impression of the museum’s exhibition.
We are excited to share this very rich and revealing exhibit of the work of two great contemporary designers as part of Collab’s Design Excellence Award program at the PMA.
