Normal Studio at appartement 50 / 2018
âNORMAL STUDIO AT APPARTEMENT 50â
15 July to 15 August 2018
Unité dâHabitation Le Corbusier, Appartement 50, 5ème rue.
280, boulevard Michelet - 13008 Marseille.
An apartment classed as a âhistoric monumentâ is an unusual place
for an exhibition. And it is a unique encounter that has taken place every
other summer since 2008 at the Cité Radieuse in Marseille, between a
modernist architect, Le Corbusier, who designed the legendary building,
and a contemporary designer. The event takes place at Appartement
50, which gained its special status in 1995, and where its owners have
got into the habit of inviting the cream of contemporary designers to fill
the 98m² space with their work. And so, following in the footsteps of
Jasper Morrison, Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec, Konstantin Grcic, Pierre
Charpin and Alessandro Mendini, this year it is the turn of Ãloi Chafaï and
Jean-François Dingjian, aka Normal Studio, to take up residence. It is an
interesting invitation: it involves arranging pieces in a place that is a living
space, and will remain so, in fact, throughout the exhibition. However,
it is up to the guest designers to fill it as they wish.
Normal Studio has kept some pieces of furniture in situ and removed
others, then positioned 30 of its designs around the apartment, setting
up a dialogue with the modernist environment. âWeâre used to seeing our
pieces in large spaces such as our studio, or a factory,â say the designers.
âSo this is one of the rare times we can see a large group of our projects
brought together in a domestic setting.â There are mass-produced pieces
including some never seen in France before, like the Tresse chair and
armchair. There are prototypes, unique pieces like the Ready Made lamp,
and more experimental objects. All date from the past decade. Also
on display for the first time is a series of lights designed at CIRVA (the
International Centre of Glass and Plastic Arts) in Marseille.
âAt first sight, the apartment can seem physically closed, when in reality
itâs closely connected to the exterior landscape and very open to the sky.â
On the terrace, one of the objects displayed is a Mimic mirror, nestled in
a small sienna-coloured niche, echoing this observation. âThe Cité
Radieuse is an experimental building, and this experimental dimension
is important to our studio.â So there are also several research projects on
display, particularly relating to concrete. âFor Le Corbusier, this material
was an essential theme. While he worked with it on an architectural scale,
in a more brutalist manner, weâre using it in a more domestic sphere,
moulded in paper or textile, which makes it look lighter.â The Strat tables
are an example of this, as is the Delicate panel with its subtle patterning.
There is a wide variety of pieces on display, but one aspect dominates.
âOnce weâd finished the installation, we realised that there were in fact
many lights, meaning that the exhibition creates two very different
atmospheres: one when the apartment is bathed in natural light, and
another at nightfall when the many light sources take over.â In either case,
the visitor will be rewarded.
Christian Simenc