Progressland at Chamber NYC

Investigating our existential relationship to innovation and the final frontier of space exploration, celebrated filmmaker Andrew Zuckerman curates Progressland at Chamber NYC. Culminating a year long study, this latest showcase brings together an eclectic slew of limited edition and commissioned ‘artefacts’ by a cast of recognised talents. Whereas a previous exhibition explored antiquity, organic matter and natural origins, this second instalment takes reference from the Richard Rush-designed General Electric Progressland pavilion at the 1964 World’s Fair to offer suggestions of advancement and optimism, hence the exhibition’s title. The ultimate goal is to demonstrate that progress can only be achieved through natural evolution and that bringing nature back into our immediate environments is crucial; not to mention fertile ground for fresh concepts.

“The human race’s relationship to innovation is fascinating to me,” Zuckerman explains. “There are the objects we invent out of necessity and there are those we invent out of the sheer pleasure of imagining a future or wanting to see and understand things previously unknown. This innate curiosity and tendency to look forward is the driving force behind new discoveries and concepts. All of the objects in Progressland reflect that kind of thrilling leap into the uncharted. The show is about the spirit that drives progress and the inquisitive minds that practice in this space.”

Staged as a holistic assemblage, Progressland features commissioned works by Aranda/Lasch, Bec Brittain, Alexandra Kehayoglu, Satoshi Itasaka, Ian Stell, and Nao Tamura. Itasaka’s The Birth of Gold lamp addresses conception and demise while Mimi Jung’s tea house redetermines our surroundings with the option of meditation and reflection. Stell’s Roll Bottom desk plays on the double function as a roll top cover swings through a structured track to become a chair. The very constraints of function looks to condition rigorous focus. The theme of space pioneering is expressed in Britain’s space station-inspired chandelier while a 1977 Soviet space suit glove situates context. Glass is Tomorrow participant Tadeás Podracky and Markéta Kratochílová’s Skywalker lamp set takes similar reference. Such juxtaposes Ralph Dorazio’s Noah Ark toy figures – a play alluding to humanity’s resilience in the face of great natural struggle.

Other exhibiting designers include Frank Austin, Bianco Light & Space, Scott Burton, TLmag-24-featured Commonplace Studio, Final Frontier Design, Globe-Trotter, Konstantin Grcic, Marlène Huissoud, Ika Künzel, Christopher Kurtz, Steven and Willian Ladd, Tomáš Libertiny, TLmag 24-featured Peter Marigold, NASA, Peter Pincus, Studiopepe, and Andrew Zuckerman in his own right.

Progressland runs through August 2016
Chamber NYC: 515 West 23rd Street, New York