WIDN blog
Ron Arad: No Discipline
July 28, 2009
By Nicole Robinson
The painted-fiberglass New Orleans chair. Photo by Erik and Petra Hesmerg.
Moma will open its Ron Arad: No Discipline exhibition this week on its sixth floor gallery.
Arad stands out for his daredevil curiosity about form, structure, technology and materials. His work spans industrial design, handcrafted studio pieces, sculpture, architecture and mixed media installations, and he’s experimented with a wide array of materials.
This is the first major U.S. retrospective of Arad’s work, and 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 figure eight-shaped structure specially designed by Arad, and loaned to this exhibition. Made out of Corten steel, it is more 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. It consists of 240 cells that are each lined with stainless steel.
The Lolita chandelier (2004) for Swarovski has been made with 2,100 crystals and 1,050 white LEDs, shaped like a flat ribbon wound into a corkscrew shape. The ribbon contains 31 processors that enable the display of text messages sent to the Lolita’s mobile phone number.
Photo courtesy Ron Arad Associates
For this exhibition, visitors can send texts to (001)917-774-6264. The messages appear at the top of the chandelier and slowly wind down the ribbon’s curves, creating the impression that the chandelier is spinning.
Ron Arad: No Discipline
2 August – 19 October
Museum of Modern Art
11 West 53 Street, New York, NY 10019
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