Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam
‘DREAM OUT LOUD’
Designing for tomorrows demands
curated by Lennart Booij

‘PHENOMENEON – CLOUD’

The exhibition includes works by Pieke Bergmans, Agatha Haines, Bart Hess, Benedikt Fischer, Boyan, Slat, Claire Verkoyen, Dirk van der Kooij, Elisa van Joolen, Fairphone, Floor Nijdeken, Formafantasma, Helmut Smits, Hella Jongerius, Jesse Howard, Marjan van Aubel, Marleen Kaptein, Metahaven, Next Nature, Network, Olivier van Herpt, Patrick Kruithof, Pavèl van Houten, Pieter Stoutjesdijk, Studio Drift, Studio Roosegaarde, Studio Stallinga.

The Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam stages a major bi-annual survey spotlighting the latest innovations, with this edition focusing on contemporary design. A jury selected 26 participants from 400 submissions that came in via an‘open call’: designers who are truly dreaming out loud, striving to create a better world. Designed meat to be less dependent on the bio industry, discarded CD’s melted down to print a chair, windows charging your phone – anything is possible for these desginers who are out to improve what already exists, rather than adding to the abundance of luxury items.

Pieke Bergmans created a new light installation ‘PHENOMENEON – CLOUD’

Thanks to her characteristically investigative approach, Bergman’s materials, whether glass, plastic, or ceramic, take center stage. The same holds true for neon light, which she studied in depth for her recent series Phenomeneon. Bergmans plays with the phenomenon of inert gases – all essentially colorless – emitting light when subjected to a voltage under compression in a relatively small space. As soon as the gas is able to expand, the light grows dimmer, and seems to vanish. Bergmans had glassblowers produce organically shaped, variable diameter tubes, which she filled with the noble gas argon. The effect is mesmerizing: blue neon lines, drawn in space as though by a paintbrush, move about freely, lighting up, or suddenly fading away.