Heritage(s) Surrealiste(s)

It has been 100 years since the official founding of Surrealism, in 1924. While ideas and philosophies of the movement had begun to spread earlier, mostly through literature and poetry, it was officially cemented into the world with Andre Breton’s Surrealist Manifesto in 1924.

To celebrate this marker, curator and design specialist, Jean-François Declercq, curated a special exhibition for Milan Design Week, titled “Heritage(s) Surrealiste(s)”. As the press release states: “For a century, it has touched our unconscious, our imagination, and our intuition. It has managed to establish itself in the collective imagination as a full-fledged movement. Surrealism is linked to the intimate but can also connect us with a smile or even a laugh when confronted with it through artworks.”

Inspired by Surrealism’s influence not only on the visual arts and literature, but also in design, Declercq selected work by eleven contemporary designers that reflect how surrealism inspired their design, and in some cases, design in general. Some pieces draw directly from a specific surrealist work while others are inherently surreal, at times, without perhaps intending to be. They write: “Benjamin Foucaud speaks through wood, Kimi Gringoire molds the heart so it can illuminate us, Yonel Lebovici transforms an everyday object into a chaise longue, Diederik Schneemann plays with an accumulation of matches, Anton Reinjders questions our perception of materials. In the fantastic world of studio GGSV, these 21st-century surrealists immerse us in a universe reminiscent of Alice in Wonderland, capable of making solids flow, losing ourselves, and making us travel.”

Designers featured included: Natalia Brilli, Benjamin Foucaud, GGSV, Kimy Gringoire, Eléonore Joulin , Yonel Lebovici, Roberto Matta, Diederik Schneemann, Anton Reijnders, Remo Butti and Atelier BL119.

The exhibition was presented at the Baranzate Ateliers, a project of the Belgian-based Zaventum Ateliers, as part of the Fuorisalone, between April 15-21, 2024.

@baranzate_ateliers

@jeanfrancoisd