Project Description
FROM THE ARCHITECTS:
Diller Scofidio + Renfro (DS+R) was the exhibition designer for Pierre Chareau: Modern Architecture and Design presented by the Jewish Museum in New York, November 4, 2016 – March 26, 2017. In designing the exhibition, DS+R deployed various forms of technology – video projections, virtual reality, digital installations, and film – to create imagined, atmospheric scenes that convey context for Chareau’s work. The exhibition, which showcases furniture, fixtures, and interiors, as well as his renowned architectural work, the Maison de Verre, brings together works from public and private collections, as well as drawings, ephemera, and archival photographs. In the first section of the exhibition, which examines the function and aesthetics of Chareau’s furniture, projected shadows create the illusion that museum-goers are joined by a ghostly population. In the second section, where the initial impression is of four distinct furniture groupings displayed in a black void, virtual reality headsets may be donned to situate the pieces in their Parisian environments: the study in the Chareau’s residence; the Farhi Apartment; and the Grand Salon and Garden of the Maison de Verre.
In the final gallery, DS+R created a dynamic and impossible view of the Maison de Verre itself – a dramatic glass block and steel frame infill townhouse in a dense urban setting for which no entire view exists.
The large-scale digital installation displays various views of the house, which are synced with films that depict inhabitants moving through it, providing a working view of the extraordinary interplay of mechanical and circulation systems in Chareau’s iconic masterpiece.