Double Mise en Évidence

The exhibition title, translated as “dual emphasis,” Luc Wolff considers the reciprocal relationship of design and art. In this exhibition, Wolff juxtaposes his Wallpapers with selected design objects—primarily chairs from the KGM collection.

Since the 1990s, Luc Wolff has addressed the opening of hermetically closed spatial boundaries in various ways in his artistic work. His attempts to address and overcome the impermeability and impenetrability of closed walls led to numerous series of paintings created as “Wallpapers”. Expansive wall paintings are combining several similar works on paper into larger units which lend a new quality to the walls on which they spread.

A Wallpaper may contain up to 80 unique, large-format watercolor or ink works. For example, Luc Wolff arranges papers in four rows of twenty pieces each to form an ensemble that covers almost 30 square meters of wall space. Luc Wolff’s paintings are characterized by rudimentary, organic-looking forms, which are organized into extensive structures and often resemble a multi-layered, translucent weave.

Dialogue with Objects of Design

In addition to designs by Donald Judd (Chair #84/85, 1982) and Konstantin Grcic (Magis Chair One, 2003), these include the stackable Bofinger chair by Helmut Bätzner and the DSS stacking chair by Ray & Charles Eames.

Through this juxtaposition of his own work with selected KGM objects of design, Wolff goes beyond any reference to the reduced, repetitive, and serially produced. The exhibition visibly manifests that wallpaper and chair become painting and sculpture rendering them simultaneously and commensurately functional design and conceptual art.

The exhibition invites a re-evaluation of the established distinction between art and design animating anew a dialogue on their respective roles and relevance in the museum context.

Luc Wolff

The Luxembourg artist Luc Wolff has lived and worked in Berlin since the late 1980s. His work includes site-specific, mostly temporary interventions in public spaces, architecture-related works, and paintings. Wolff gained international recognition with his work Magazzino at the Venice Biennale (1997) as the official representative of Luxembourg.

A special exhibition of the Kunstgewerbemuseum – Staatliche Museen zu Berlin