Design Projects at Armory Show 2016

Spotted throughout the hallowed piers of New York’s annual Armory Show (3-6 March), a series of unexpected Design Projects caught visitors’ attention. Some were hard to miss, as most attendees pasted through Sung Jang‘s sublime Mobile structure to move between the fair’s Modern and Contemporary sections. Mounted by local platform Chamber NYC, this temporary installation – engulfing either end of a scaffolded stairwell – plays on human perception in rapidly assembled architecture. The very nature of repeated elements puzzled together perhaps also reflect strains of optical and textured works on view throughout gallery presentations. Chamber NYC also presented a select retrospective of Belgian Dutch design duo Studio Job, a hot topic in New York with a show soon to mount at the MAD.

Echoing the function of the fair’s space, TLmag-regular Carwan Gallery took this opportunity to present Autopsy by sibling duo Carlo and Mary-Lynn Massoud. Exploring the fragility of life through the South African artisanal tradition of fertility doll making, a series of archetypically formed stool appear in different material iterations of oxidised bronze. Equally craft- and socially-based, Noir by New York-based Stephen Burks explores the immateriality and encasment of light. Three cylindric and latticed lamps challenged the constructs of contemporary industrial production in form.

Last but certainly not least, the fair featured a tour-de-force large scale Studio Drift installation, another node to ever-lasting influence of Dutch design. In 20 Steps comprised a series of paired long glass tubes rotating against each other in a kinetic motion; by means of minimal yet complex mechanics. This monumental construction, hung in the fair’s entrance hall, expressed humanities continued desired to fly. The permutation of craft revival remained evident, if not more so than before in the evolving industry, throughout this contemporary design selection; however exclusive in application.