Temporary Exhibitions

EXHIBITION 2010

• in the castle: the exhibition “Luminous Times – Lighting Design through the 20th century”

• in the open air: the temporary exhibition “Global Award for Sustainable Architecture 2007 – 2010”

an exhibition of the Cité de l’Architecture & du Patrimoine and the Institut
Français d’Architecture (IFA), parallel show in Paris.

Luminous Times: Lighting Design Through the 20th Century

Domaine de Boisbuchet, the summer academy for aspiring international designers, is presenting a special exhibition with lighting objects from the collection of Alexander von Vegesack.   

While the Domaine de Boisbuchet attracts the best designers from all over the world each summer to participate in collaborative workshops, the estate’s chateau had lain dormant for decades. When von Vegesack first purchased the nineteenth-century building, the initial efforts focused on simply clearing out the debris and wreckage from the previous occupation by squatters and restoring the roof. Only last summer when the Domaine’s park-like grounds with its traditional Japanese guesthouse and experimental modern architecture were opened for visitors did the chateau become featured in its own right. The architectural exhibition shown there owed much of its appeal to the morbid charm of the premises, and this very element is being drawn on again for yet another presentation.

Inspired by the workshops at the Domaine, the new exhibition takes an experimental approach in examining the themes of light and design. First there is the unusual contrast of the desolate building with the high-quality artistry of the lighting. Along with renowned designs by Alvar Aalto, Achille Castiglioni, Verner Panton, Jean Prouvé, Le Corbusier, Charlotte Perriand, Isamu Noguchi, Ingo Maurer and Ettore Sottsass, a number of rarer lamps in design history – including many one-off pieces – will be on display as well as new designs, such as by the Campana brothers. Aside from a few loaned pieces, all objects stem from the collection of Alexander von Vegesack. The collection has already been the subject of major shows at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris in 1993 and the Pinacoteca Agnelli in Turin in 2008. The particular fascination of the current exhibition, however, lies in the staging of the presentation. It not only underscores the specific lighting effect of the exhibition objects but also the historical background they serve to illuminate. Each of the fifteen rooms constitutes its own tableau and expresses the various facets of lighting.

As an additional sideline, the major themes of art and design also enter the spotlight: their investigations of nature, the crossing of boundaries into the unconscious, the dialogue between modern design and abstract art, the influence of Japan on nineteenth-century western art, the commodity aesthetic of the Pop Art movement, the putative objectivity of the images in film and photography and last but not least the contradiction between image and time. Like aphorisms, the short texts accompanying the fifty-six exhibit objects make references to these themes. Very much in keeping with the intended experiment, this provides food for thought not only for visitors but also for the curator of the exhibition. Mathias Schwartz-Clauss, curator at the Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein in Germany, employs these inspirations to come up with ideas for future projects, including ones planned for the Domaine de Boisbuchet.

The exhibition can be visited from 13 June through the end of September 2010 in the context of guided tours offered every Saturday and Sunday or by special appointment during the week.  

EXHIBITION 2009

Learning from Vernacular - apprendre des cultures vernaculaires

An exhibition of the Archives de la construction moderne at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). Installation: Ecole cantonale d'art de Lausanne (ECAL).
 

June 5th to October 4th 2009, Domaine de Boisbuchet

© Deidi von Schaewen © Deidi von Schaewen © Deidi von Schaewen © Deidi von Schaewen © Deidi von Schaewen © Deidi von Schaewen © Deidi von Schaewen

In the chateau we are now showing the temporary exhibition: "Learning from vernacular – apprendre des cultures vernaculaires”. This fascinating documentation on the marvels of vernacular architecture around the globe is presented in the spectacular setting of Boisbuchet's castle, dating from the 19th century and abandoned for the past thirty years. The collection of vernacular architecture at the EPFL's Archives de la construction moderne is a unique collection of documents and about 700 models that showcase a wide range of spatial, symbolic and constructive solutions that govern, or have goverend the domestic as well as work space of traditional cultures in all climatic conditions. Even tough the vernacular practices of cultures from all over the world, in themselves, are not the answers or alternatives to the current situation, they do not lack in impressive, ingenious solutions and exemplary techniques that highlight man's capacity to make the most of the given circumstances and canalise the available resources effectively. Lerning from vernacular… … is possible and highly recommended. The collection of vernacular architecture at the Archives de la construction moderne at EPFL makes it a strong and representative body to undertake such an initiative and envisage contemporary efforts based on analogies. It thus makes it possible to offer multiple arrays of alternatives for the niche strategies, autonomous within the contemporary world. The Learning from vernacular exhibition comprises two primary sections. The first section, covering the chateau's entire first floor, highlights the diversity of spatial methods explored by different cultures. While the second that is spread over the second floor concentrates on the use of a variety of building materials. The exhibition consists of thirty-two models at a scale of 1:20, selected on the basis of their pertinence to this issue and the quality of execution. Each room contains a display of diagrams as well as images captured recently on location by photographer Deidi von Schaewen. These displays help in understanding and visualising these constructions in their contemporary context. Films, shown in different rooms, either illustrate life in those particular environments or the techniques used for construction.