droog honors 30 years of rebellious design with twitter feed-inspired triennale show

droog honors 30 years of rebellious design with twitter feed-inspired triennale show

celebrating 30 years of droog with a special exhibition 

 

From May 2nd, 2023, the Nieuwe Instituut celebrates the 30th anniversary of Droog, an innovative and rebellious Dutch design collective, with ‘Droog30. Design or Non-Design?’ — a special exhibition presenting pioneering and iconic designs from a label that, over the years, has generated as much controversy as it has affection. The show is being previewed at the Triennale Milano from April 15th to 24th on the occasion of Milan Design Week 2023.

 

‘Droog30. Design or Non-Design?’ celebrates the brazenly insubordinate reality of Droog and its renewed appreciation for the celebrated Dutch brand. Since its foundation in Milan in 1993, the collective has established itself as something other, opposing ‘dry’ (droog) functionalism and instead treating design as an art form capable of expressing humor and being accessible to all. Countless brands have mimicked the Droog philosophy over the past thirty years, while its designs have found their way into the collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, and many more.

 

Aric Chen, the general and artistic director at the Nieuwe Instituut, comments: ‘Droog brought its dry wit and subversive tendencies to a global audience — and design would never be the same again. The group managed to make its mark on the world thirty years ago as the last pre-internet design movement, so when we look back over its history, we wonder how far we’ve come since then and where we are heading from here.’

droog honors 30 years of rebellious design with twitter feed-inspired triennale show
image © Gianluca Di Ioia

 

 

a walk through ‘Droog30. Design or Non-Design?’ 

 

For the exhibition at Triennale Milano, curators Maria Cristina Didero and Richard Hutten (one of Droog’s founders and the exhibition designer) have created a spatial translation of a Twitter feed, inviting visitors to step into a three-dimensional spectrum of opinion.

 

This allows the curators to make the Droog mentality tangible and comprehensible: still unafraid of strong reactions and swimming against the current. In line with this contrarian mentality, visitors are also given the opportunity to share their own thoughts about the label. An interactive space presents uncensored reactions and comments made by fans and critics on social media. Visitors are encouraged to leave a comment,’ notes the Nieuwe Instituut (see more here). 

droog honors 30 years of rebellious design with twitter feed-inspired triennale show
image © Gianluca Di Ioia

 

 

Naturally, ‘Droog30. Design or Non-Design?’ also showcases emblematic, witty, provocative, and sometimes downright outlandish designs from the collective’s 30-year history. Highlights include Tejo Remy’s ‘Chest of Drawers’, Marcel Wanders’ ‘Knotted Chair,’ the ‘Treetrunk’ bench by Jurgen Bey, and’ The Cross’, the cross-shaped table and bench by Hutten himself. The exhibition completes with a film, compiled especially for the show by Didero and director Francesca Molteni, with anecdotes from Droog’s designers and commentary from other design experts.

droog honors 30 years of rebellious design with twitter feed-inspired triennale show
creating a Twitter-feed inspired exhibition space | image © Gianluca Di Ioia 

droog honors 30 years of rebellious design with twitter feed-inspired triennale show
‘Droog30. Design or Non-Design?’ celebrates the brazenly insubordinate reality of Droog |image © Gianluca Di Ioia

droog-design-or-non-design-designboom-full-5

‘The Cross’ by Richard Hutten | image courtesy Droog

droog honors 30 years of rebellious design with twitter feed-inspired triennale show
‘The Cross’ table and bench by Richard Hutten | image © Gianluca Di Ioia

droog honors 30 years of rebellious design with twitter feed-inspired triennale show
image © Gianluca Di Ioia

droog-design-or-non-design-designboom-full-1

‘Treetrunk’ bench by Jurgen Bey | image © Marcel Loermans

 

1/7
image © Gianluca Di Ioia
image © Gianluca Di Ioia
image © Gianluca Di Ioia
image © Gianluca Di Ioia
'Salad Sunrise' by Arnout Visser | image courtesy Droog
'Salad Sunrise' by Arnout Visser | image courtesy Droog
'Table chair' by Richard Hutten | image courtesy Droog
'Table chair' by Richard Hutten | image courtesy Droog
'Knotted Chair' by Marcel Wanders | image courtesy Droog
'Knotted Chair' by Marcel Wanders | image courtesy Droog
'Chest of Drawers' by Tejo Remy | image © Ernst Moritz
'Chest of Drawers' by Tejo Remy | image © Ernst Moritz
'Rag Chair' by Tejo Remy | image © Lisa Gaudaire
'Rag Chair' by Tejo Remy | image © Lisa Gaudaire

project info:

 

name: Droog30. Design or Non-Design?

location: Triennale Milano | @triennalemilano

exhibiting collective: Droog | @droogamsterdam

curators: Maria Cristina DideroRichard Hutten | @richardhutten

organized by: Nieuwe Instituut | @nieuweinstituut

running dates: 15-24 April, 2023

KEEP UP WITH OUR DAILY AND WEEKLY NEWSLETTERS
suscribe on designboom
- see sample
- see sample
suscribe on designboom

DROOG (14)

EXHIBITION DESIGN (507)

MILAN DESIGN WEEK 2023 (77)

MILAN TRIENNALE (36)

PRODUCT LIBRARY

a diverse digital database that acts as a valuable guide in gaining insight and information about a product directly from the manufacturer, and serves as a rich reference point in developing a project or scheme.

designboom will always be there for you

milan, new york, beijing, tokyo,  since 1999
X
5