MATERIALISM ON VIEW AT THE SUZHOU MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART

The Materialism exhibition is now open for view at the BIG-designed Suzhou Museum of Contemporary Art. Expanding on Bjarke Ingels’ year-long guest editorship of Domus, the exhibition presents 20 BIG projects through the lens of the matter and craft that shaped them. Seating elements throughout the gallery are made from the very substances on display, creating a full sensory journey through texture and form. “Due to the nature of the architectural profession, the fate of the project is always decided in the early stages: the concept design or the competition. That’s why a lot of effort is always invested in telling the story of how the project was conceived, the initial analysis, the fundamental idea, and its conception into form. But 90% of our work is what follows – the translation of the idea into reality, the materialization of the fiction into fact. This exhibition is dedicated to the material aspect of our profession. The concrete materialization of abstract ideas. Twenty of our projects are arranged according to what they’re made of – fabric, plastic, earth, concrete, glass, metal, wood, plants, stone, recyclate. Highlighting the material aspect, which is often the untold story. Like the Serpentine Pavilion, which came out of a close collaboration with Fiberline and the strength and elegance of pultruded glass fibers. Working with traditional thatchers using straw to make a little village of public pavilions in Aarhus. Using cast glass as a transparent load-bearing material at the museum of Audemars Piguet. The ideas and concepts are still there, but here the architectural story is told through the materials and the collaborations that made them possible.” – Bjarke Ingels, Founder & Creative Director, BIG The exhibition will be on view through March 8th, before reopening later this summer for the grand inauguration of the Suzhou MoCA.