ron arad: 'no discipline' at MoMA, new york

ron arad: ‘no discipline’ at MoMA, new york rendering of the installation of ron arad: no discipline at the MoMA featuring cage sans frontières (cage without frontiers). ron arad and associates © 2009

ron arad: no discipline august 2 – october 19, 2009 at the MoMA, new york

the museum of modern art presents ‘ron arad: no discipline’, the first major u.s. retrospective of arad’s work. among the most influential designers of our time, arad (british, b. israel 1951) stands out for his daredevil curiosity about form, structure, technology, and materials and for the versatile nature of his work, which spans industrial design, hand-crafted studio pieces, sculpture, architecture, and mixed media installations. arad’s relentless experimentation with the use of materials of all kinds—from steel, aluminum, and bronze, to thermoplastics, crystals, fiberoptics, and leds—as well as his radical reinterpretation of some of the most established archetypes in furniture—from armchairs and rocking chairs to desk lamps and chandeliers—has put him at the forefront of contemporary design. the exhibition will feature approximately 140 works, including design objects, architectural models, and videos.

most of the objects featured in the exhibition will be displayed in a monumental structure specially designed by arad and developed with michael castellana from ron arad associates. cage sans frontières (cage without frontiers) is a corten steel structure—126.5 feet (38.5 meters) long, spanning the whole length of the museum’s international council gallery, and over 16 feet (5 meters) tall—in the shape of a figure eight. the structure consists of 240 cells that are each lined with stainless steel. the dramatic installation will rely on its scale and on the reflectivity of the inner walls of the cells to create a ricocheting effect that will be tamed and contained by the regular rhythm of the cage sans frontières’s geometry.

well tempered chair. Prototype. 1986 sprung stainless steel and wing nuts 31 1/2 x 39 3/8 x 31 1/2″ (80 x 100 x 80 cm) prototype by vitra gmbh, germany photo courtesy of vitra design museum, weil am rhein, germany

southern hemisphere. 2007 patinated aluminum 51 x 52 x 52″ (129.5 x 132.1 x 132.1 cm) edition by the gallery mourmans, the netherlands photo by eric and petra hesmerg. courtesy of private collection, maastricht

new orleans. 1999 fiberglass, polyester, and gelcoat 35 7/8 x 42 x 29 1/8″ (91 x 122 x 74 cm) edition by ron arad for the gallery mourmans, the netherlands photo by eric and petra hesmerg. courtesy of private collection, maastricht

narrow pappardelle. 1992 woven stainless steel mesh and steel 40 3/16″ x 6′ 9 5/16″ x 23 5/8″ (102 x 206.5 x 60 cm) edition by one off/ron arad associates, london photo by bruno scott. courtesy of fonds national d’art contemporain, ministère de la culture et de la communication, paris

FPE (fantastic, plastic, elastic). 1997 aluminum and injection-molded polypropylene plastic sheet 31 ¼ x 17 x 22″ (79.4 x 43.2 x 55.9 cm) manufactured by kartell, italy photo courtesy of ron arad associates, london

lolita. 2004 crystals and leds h. 59″ (150 cm), top-plate diam. 43 1/4″ (110 cm) edition by swarovski photo courtesy of ron arad associates, london

d-sofa. prototype. 1994 patinated, painted, oxidized stainless steel and mild steel 38 3/16″ x 7′ 1 13/16″ x 35 7/16″ (97 x 218 x 90 cm) prototype by one off, london photo by eric and petra hesmerg. courtesy of private collection, usa

the exhibition will feature arad’s most celebrated historical pieces, including the rover chair (1981), the concrete stereo (1983), and the bookworm bookshelves (1993), along with more recent experiments such as the lamp pizzakobra (2008) and the latest reincarnation of the volumes series, the armchair duo even the odd balls? (2009).