Viviane Stappmanns + Mateo Kries (DE) + studio d-o-t-s (FR) + Vitra Design Museum (DE)

Curating Paradise

August 21st – August 27th 2022

The Workshop

For more than 30 years, the Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein has been a leading institution producing exhibitions of design and architecture. In recent years, the museum has been interrogating traditions of curatorial practice: How do we do it, for whom and with whom? How can exhibitions foster social and ecological justice and make a contribution to the common good?

The exhibition “Garden Futures”, which will open in Spring 2023, will be a reflection of these questions. Through collaborative curatorial approaches, it is set to explore the garden as a site of experimentation, or as an incubator of new political, social and sometimes radical ideas.

In a week-long workshop, curators, designers, architects and gardeners, are invited to join this research, using the site of Boisbuchet, its extensive gardens, history and collections as a starting point, inspiration and subject. Together, the group will experiment in exploring new curatorial and scenographic approaches to reconsidering the narratives around design, nature and community.

Workshop Categories

Viviane Stappmanns + Mateo Kries Germany

Viviane Stappmanns

Viviane Stappmanns is a curator at the Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein.

She is interested in exploring the contribution curators can make to rethinking design as a practice concerned with ecological and social sustainability. In her exhibition and teaching work, she experiments with new, collaborative approaches to curating and exhibiting.

She has taught at different schools and universities, among them the School of Architecture and Urban Design at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia and, most recently the University of Arts and Design in Karlsruhe. Prior to working at the Vitra Design Museum, Viviane has worked as an editor and curator within architecture and design contexts in Australia and Germany, and holds degrees in Interior Design and Journalism.

Her most recent exhibition, “Here We Are! Women in Design 1900 – Today!” (2021) will be shown at the Kunsthal Rotterdam in 2022. Currently, she is working on the international travelling exhibition “Garden Futures”, due to open at the Vitra Design Museum in Spring 2023.

 

Mateo Kries

Mateo Kries has been director of the Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein since 2011.

After his studies in art history and sociology, and a trainship at the Museum of Berber Culture in Marrakech, he joined the Vitra Design Museum in 1995 as a curator. He was appointed museum’s chief curator later on in 2006. During this time, he was in charge for numerous exhibitions and co-founded the Berlin DESIGNMAI Festival.

Mateo Kries is author of various books and articles on architectural and design, and is a regular member of international juries and appointment committees. He is co-editor of the “Atlas of Furniture Design” (2019), the most comprehensive publication ever published on this topic. 

studio d-o-t-s France

d-o-t-s is a nomadic curatorial practice founded by Laura Drouet and Olivier Lacrouts. The duo’s investigations focus on alternative social dynamics, off-the-record stories and experimental design perspectives. Defined by the participatory and interdisciplinary approach, d-o-t-s’ work spans writing, exhibition-making, hands-on workshops and design commissions.

https://studiodots.eu/

Featured Partners

Vitra Design Museum Germany

The Vitra Design Museum opened in 1989 as part of the Vitra Factory Campus in Weil am Rehin in a building designed by Frank Gehry and within a short time it became established as an independent cultural institution. Today it is one of the leading design museum worldwide. It is dedicated to the research and presentation of design, past and present, and it examines its relationship to architecture, art and everyday culture.

https://www.vitra.com/en-fr/about-vitra/campus/vitra-design-museum#

Housing

  • Accommodation & food are included

  • We can accommodate for special catering

  • All participants sleep in dormitories

  • To book a private room or bring additional guests, get in touch: workshops@boisbuchet.org

Education

  • Our staff are available to help you conceptualize & produce your designs

  • Tools & materials are provided by Boisbuchet

  • All workshops are taught in English

  • The number of participants is limited to 22

Activities