DALLAS, TX.- The Nasher Sculpture Center presents Provocations: The Architecture and Design of Heatherwick Studio from September 13, 2014 to January 4, 2015. This represents the first major museum exhibition of the work of Thomas Heatherwick and his studio in North America.
“Following presentations of the work of Renzo Piano and Foster + Partners, the Nasher Sculpture Center is especially pleased to extend its series of architecture and design exhibitions with Provocations: The Architecture and Design of Heatherwick Studio,” said Nasher Director Jeremy Strick. “Thomas Heatherwick’s distinctive work speaks to a unique approach; one in which innovations in form and function emerge synergistically from innovations in the way things are made. The sculptural appearance of many of his buildings and design objects springs from the concern for the process of making. This extends to the design of the exhibition itself, developed by the Heatherwick Studio. The result will be an exhibition at once dazzling, instructive, and provoking.”
British designer Thomas Heatherwick has been hailed as a genius, lauded by The New Yorker architecture critic Paul Goldberger for the uniquely inventive nature of his work, and praised by esteemed designer Sir Terence Conran as the “Leonardo da Vinci of our times.”
This exhibition, the first North American presentation by a museum of the work of Heatherwick and his studio, examines the astonishing range of Heatherwick Studio’s practice by focusing on the design concepts behind early projects such as the handbag designed for Longchamp and the rotation-molded “Spun” chairs, as well as current large architectural projects in the U.K, South Africa, Abu Dhabi, Singapore, and China. Included are such projects as the U.K. Pavilion - known as the Seed Cathedral - at the 2010 Shanghai World Expo; a distillery and visitor center for Bombay Sapphire Gin in Hampshire, England; a teaching building at Nanyang Technical University, Singapore; and a mixed use complex in Shanghai.
The studio’s design of the New Bus for London recently took to the streets of the British capital, and the ceremonial lighting of its cauldron designed for the London 2012 Olympic Games was broadcast worldwide, bringing the studio to the attention of a much wider public.
Heatherwick Studio is recognized for its highly inventive approach to design, often combining novel engineering with new materials and innovative technology to create unusual, often sculptural, building forms. The project that first garnered Heatherwick international recognition was the Rolling Bridge near London’s Paddington Station. Asked to design a bridge to span a small channel through which boats pass, Heatherwick realized that most drawbridges are unattractive when raised. Wanting the bridge to be as beautiful when spanning the channel as when raised for water traffic, he designed a unique mechanized structure that rolls up into a circular snail-like form.
Organized by guest curator Brooke Hodge for the Nasher Sculpture Center, the exhibition includes prototypes, large-scale models, objects, photographs, and film and video footage for a selection of projects.
"I've followed Thomas Heatherwick's work since 2003 and I believe he is one of the most brilliant designers of our time. I am thrilled to have this opportunity to bring the important work he and his studio are doing to the attention of a wider audience," said Brooke Hodge.
A special section of the exhibition, presented in the Nasher’s Lower Level Gallery, focuses on the creative process that underlies all of the studio’s extraordinary designs. The exhibition will travel to the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles and Cooper-Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in New York after its presentation in Dallas.
