I love Studio, the new furniture-like sculpture installation by Slovenian New York artist Tobias Putrih even more than the last work of his I saw, and I loved those pieces a lot.
In 2005, Putrih's geologically inspired columns of corrugated cardboard were a standout at P.S. 1's big Greater NY show. Because all the cardboard grains were aligned, the solid forms would turn transparent, light up, and practically disappear as you moved around them.
With Studio, Putrih explores the interrelation of individual expression and mass production by creating a system of oddly shaped birch ply elements that look like components for surrealist furniture. In previous incarnations of the Studio system, visitors were able to reconfigure the structure. In NYC's Max Protetch gallery, it's all as-is, including this one kid's chair-looking piece right in front.
I think it's climbable, or at least touchable, though. In Luxembourg, people are sitting around on it, even loading it up with books. Which puts me in the mind of Variants, Daan Roosegaarde's computer-generated cardboard booknooks. Remember those?
Putrih's Studio is up through June, and he's representing Slovenia at the Venice Biennale in July. There are more photos at Max Protetch's site [hyaku.pair.com]
That's very cool work... I'd love to see the forms in person and walk around them.
(I don't think a review of the work would be complete without mentioning that at first glance it looked as if someone were trying to put together a truckload of IKEA stuff without any instructions...)
Great looking stuff, I just saw a table done with this sort of construction that inspired me to create some thing like that for my house and I was doing a little more research to see what other stuff was out there in this line. If you have found other materials on this I would love to see it.
It's not the same concept, but there's a formal similarity with Dan Roosegaarde's Cocoon bookcase, which is pretty sweet.
Also similar-looking: Japanese architecture firm Atelier Bow-Wow's 2005 exhibition project, Mediapod.