exhibit: Airworld. Design and Architecture for Air Travel [ NL ]

> ....
>
> When you stand there, the airport peeking out from behind the overpass 
> suddenly seems an optimistic symbol. It makes as much sense--and 
> probably more--for the people of Detroit to orbit a new global portal as 
> it does for them to cling to some frayed and decrepit version of Jane 
> Jacobs's ideal. It's an opportunity for the city to start fresh, to 
> recast itself in our networked economy's own image. It's a chance that 
> Detroit, of all places, can ill afford to miss. The rest of us had 
> better take good notes.

Airworld. Design and Architecture for Air Travel
21.07.06 - 5.11.06
Large overview of design in the air-world, from the beginning until today.

Opening: July 20, 2006
___________________

>> for the exhibition brochure (PDF)
http://www.stedelijk.nl/content/Airworld_folder.pdf

For nearly a century now the airline industry has been an important 
player in the field of architecture and design. For many architects and 
designers it is an honour to design something for this branch of 
industry, from stewardess’s (and stewards) uniforms to signposting, from 
a terminal to services and cutlery. ‘Airworld’ gives a good picture of 
the history of air travel, with a focus on the developments that design 
and architecture have undergone.

This is the first time that this theme has been illuminated so widely 
from the perspective of architecture and design. The exhibition 
‘Airworld. Design and Architecture for Air Travel’ is organizedr by the 
Vitra Design Museum (Weil am Rhein). The Stedelijk has added posters 
from its own collection and objects that are typical for Dutch design.

The ‘status’ that flying has had over the course of the years becomes 
clear in the presentation. In the early days attention was primarily 
focused on improvements in the technological aspects of aeroplanes, and 
the interior had a subordinate role. As time passed air travel 
increasingly came to be dominated by the idea of luxury. Presently the 
aeroplane is a popular means of transport and, in part because of the 
prices offered by many low-cost airlines, it draws a much wider segment 
of the population.

The design of seating that take up still less room but is still 
comfortable, fire-retardant upholstery fabrics, and plates and cups that 
are ultra-light and stackable are all important starting points for the 
design process. After decades in which the appearance of aeroplanes 
hardly changed at all, with the invention of the ‘blended wing body’ (a 
delta-shaped aeroplane) it now appears that something is finally going 
to change. In addition to more space for passengers, its other great 
advantage is its lower fuel consumption.

In this era of fierce competition, the corporate identity of a company, 
which is expressed in all sorts of ways from advertising to stewardess’s 
uniforms, is also a very important aspect for designers. Famous 
designers, whose work in many cases is included in the collection of the 
Stedelijk Museum, are represented here with their designs. They include 
Otl Aicher, Luigi Colani, Andries Copier, Charles & Ray Eames, Raymond 
Loewy, Ross Lovegrove, Gerrit Rietveld, Eero Saarinen and Tapio Wirkkala.

Special in Stedelijk Museum CS
A number of historic posters from airline companies from the collection 
of the Stedelijk Museum have been included in the exhibition. The 
presentation in Amsterdam also pauses to look at Dutch designers who 
played a role in the development of design for air travel. For instance, 
attention is given to the signposting system by Benno Wissing and the 
interior design by Kho Liang Ie which were developed for Schiphol in the 
1960s, and a maquette shows the future of this Airport City (the whole 
of the terminals, WTC, hotels, office buildings, etc.) as conceived by 
Benthem Crouwel and NACO. That flying still appeals to the imagination 
is clear from the fact that the Fokker F.27 was recently chosen the Best 
Dutch Design of the past century, and that the Concorde won the Great 
British Design Quest for design since 1900. These designs are also dealt 
with in the exhibition.

There are also two presentations of uniforms for stewards and 
stewardesses to be seen, through the cooperation of Jelleke Oeberius 
Kapteijn and students and former students at the Gerrit Rietveld 
Academy, Amsterdam. Oeberius Kapteijn’s 2004 project Ode to the 
Stewardess’s Uniform is being shown. In this photo series we see the 
perfect stewardess – one model, in exactly the same pose, but in the 
uniforms of various airlines each time. Here the visualisation of a myth 
and the collision of identity and uniformity take on life-size form.

And a design contest for students and former students at the Gerrit 
Rietveld Academy was organised especially for Airworld, for a steward’s 
or stewardess’s uniform for the future. During the opening a fashion 
show of the clothing will be presented, and the winning design announced 
by the jury. The jury is comprised of Milou van Rossum (fashion writer 
for de Volkskrant), Aziz Bekkaoui (designer) and Ingeborg de Roode 
(chairwoman and curator at the Stedelijk Museum). During the exhibition, 
one of the winning designs will be worn by a host (or hostess) in the 
Museum.

Education
During the ‘Airworld’ exhibition there will be active family guided 
tours for children, parents, grandparents, uncles and aunts, and in 
September various children’s workshops will be taking place themed 
around the show. This year pupils of the IMC Weekend School will be 
visiting Stedelijk Museum CS for four weeks. Together with artist Hugo 
Kaagman they will be working on a project on design for air travel.

Publications
A richly illustrated English-language catalogue can be purchased at the 
Museum Shop (295 pages; € 59,90). Two articles connected with ‘Airworld’ 
have been included in Stedelijk Museum Bulletin 3, 2006: a contribution 
by art critic Arjan Reinders in which he speaks with three experts on 
developments in design for the air travel industry, and a text by 
architect Marc Dubois investigating aviation as a theme in the visual 
arts in the first decades of the 20th century.

SMCS on 11
The evening programme SMCS on 11 will be giving ample attention to 
‘Airworld: Design and Architecture for Air Travel’.
Thursday, September 7, will be devoted to the highly praised Fokker 
F.27, in cooperation with Premsela, Foundation for Dutch Design, one of 
the organizers of the Best Dutch Design project.
A second evening given over to the theme will be held November 2.
For more information and other dates, see www.stedelijk.nl

Museum Night
On Saturday, November 4, Museum Night at SMCS will include activities 
related to the ‘Airworld’ exhibition.

More Air Travel
In Kunsthal Rotterdam the exhibition 'People behind the airport. Photo 
portraits by Vincent Mentzel' is to be seen from July 7 on. More 
information: www.kunsthal.nl

Sponsor statements

The exhibition ‘Airworld’ is made possible in part by ABN AMRO, partner 
of the Stedelijk Museum. The bank will be organising various activities 
related to the exhibition for its business contacts, such as free guided 
tours.

The first aeroplane landed at Schiphol on September 19, 1916. Now, 90 
years later, over 44 million passengers and about 1,449,000 tons of 
freight pass through the same place. As part of the celebration of this 
very special anniversary, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol is sponsoring the 
exhibition ‘Airworld: Design and Architecture for Air Travel’.

>> for hi-res press images.
http://www.stedelijk.nl/oc2/page.asp?PageID=1390