On November 26th, the Museum of Modern Art is hosting an exhibit of contemporary design as part of its Projects series. The show combines the work of the visionary lighting designer, Ingo Maurer, and the work of the brothers Humberto and Fernando Campana of Brazil, who design vibrant, witty furniture. Initially, the show seems unusual because it pairs the work of a widely influential designer with the work of two brothers who have only recently begun to achieve recognition for their designs. Furthermore, common perceptions and stereotypes of the cultural traditions of Brazil and Germany differ vastly: German design is still equated with cubes and minimalism, whereas it is often believed that minimalist design in Brazil applies only to bikinis.

Why were Maurer and the Campana brothers selected for a joint show? A closer look yields some interesting similarities and observations. Both Maurer and the Campanas produce work that is illuminated by an awareness of simplicity and poetry. Yet, their designs are never banal because sly, whimsical humor suffuses their approach to materials and cultural assumptions about objects. For example, the Campana brothers' Cone Chair is constructed of a sheet of clear plastic that is shaped into a cone and suspended in the center of a simple three-legged metal frame. The chair's composition seems to underscore the artistic and fantastic, but its delicacy is illusory because the chair supports weight very comfortably.

Furthermore, both Ingo Maurer and the Campana brothers are able to manipulate modernist icons and visualize them afresh. According to Paola Antonelli, the show's curator and an Associate Curator in the Department of Architecture and Design at the Museum of Modern Art, "the best contemporary objects are those whose presence expresses history and contemporaneity." One of the most intriguing pieces in the show, a lamp designed by Maurer in homage to Thomas Edison, illustrates this statement quite eloquently. Wo bist Du, Edison? consists of a large clear cylinder that, when illuminated from above by a halogen bulb, contains a 360 degree hologram of Edison's most famous creation.

But there may be factors other than similarities in style and method that contributed to the inclusion of the Campana brothers in an exhibit with Ingo Maurer. The Museum of Modern Art, through the efforts of such curators as Ms. Antonelli, has led the way in recognizing and promoting design; inviting the Brazilians to show their work at the museum is ultimately a decision that will grant the Campanas distinction beyond the world of design. Celebrity is not based purely on achievement; after all, the Campana brothers have displayed great talent. But the support of a powerful and prestigious institution such as MOMA can build careers and launch new trends, and it is the exercise of this power that may have resulted in the selection of designers from Brazil. The Modern’s choice echoes the attention being lavished on Brazilian culture by the media: two periodicals which address design and lifestyle, Abitare and Wallpaper, have devoted recent issues to the subject of Brazil, which is the world’s eighth largest economy and the linchpin of the South American market. Brazil, with its vital mix of indigenous peoples, Portuguese settlers, and immigrants from countries as diverse as Japan and Saudi Arabia, seems to have captured the zeitgeist of the global culture. Anointing two Brazilian designers of the moment to become designers for the millenium is a timely connection of the world’s high and low technology, of minimalism and the exotic.


See the Show:
Projects 66: Campana/Ingo Maurer
November 27, 1998 - January 19, 1999

Museum of Modern Art
11 W. 53rd St.
NY, NY 10019
212-708-9400