Asian design spotlight fantastic made art and architecture
Things, Space, Interactions retrospective into the significance of Asian design
Mao Suit from Mao Collection series Spring / Summer 1995, Woven polyester, Vivienne Tam
Southeast Asian design melding east and west
Asian design is about more than function. Its elements reflect attitudes and aspirations of its era and culture and offer an understanding of how people see themselves.
Cup & saucer (Triple row) from Buddha Hands series, 2004, porcelain, Peter Ting
Not confined within territorial borders, elements of design engage in cross-border discourse, evolving from new interactions as we do.
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In Southeast Asia, Asian design has commonly been seen as melding influences from east and west. When various regions in Asia broke away from their ties to modern colonialism, this global discourse skyrocketed.
Furniture with Drawers, 1967, oak, maple, plywood, oak veneer, metal and cotton cloth, Kuramata Shiro
The development of new materials and techniques has broadened the scope further as technological advancements and cosmopolitan influences stimulated postcolonial urban and economic reconstruction.
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At M+, Hong Kong’s visual culture museum, over 500 examples of architecture and design showcase seventy years of style evolutions across the globe in the exhibition titled: Things, Space, Interactions.
Album cover for Anita Mui: Leap the Stage 1984, offset lithograph, Alan Chan
When it comes to interpreting the identity of a space through design, contemporary artists explore ways to reinterpret traditions and incorporate cultural references.
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Artist Freeman Lau’s Agenda No. 3 examines how we relate to each other through chair design. Ten stainless steel chairs are joined in a circle.
Agenda No. 3, 2015/2020, Stainless steel, Freeman Lau
Each chair is a different size and shape, but they all join together like a jigsaw puzzle. Just as human relationships come together, so can the formal and informal.
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The uptick in urban population densities has encouraged large-scale efficiency in design.
Kowloon Walled City was chaotic with hidden strengths
Take the Kowloon Walled City, for example. Long perceived as chaotic, its structure had a hidden logic that highlighted the strengths and potential of unplanned environments. Design elements were added organically to meet community needs.
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Drawing from similar needs, architects Urbanus and Urbz work within existing environments to preserve social patterns and collective intelligence.
Model for Urban Village: Gangxia Village (2004-2005), Shenzhen, Urbanus
Maquettes of their multi-story residential buildings, designed to fit into the urban villages in Shenzhen and India, offer an alternative to demolition and top-down urban renewal without comprising the surrounding landscape.
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Art can even breathe new life into abandoned forms. Appropriation and repurposing of everyday objects are demonstrated in a found chair of unknown origins collected for Michael Wolf’s “Bastard Chair” photography series. Its spontaneous ingenuity is an example of improvised, personalised street furniture.
Found chair collected for Michael Wolf’s ‘Bastard Chair’ photography series, 1990s-2000s, plastic bag, fabric cushion, fabric strip, plastic strap, iron box, and plastic dispenser outer casing, Unknown maker (Hong Kong)
UK designer Ron Arad’s Rover chair demonstrates a similar approach by salvaging automobile parts from scrapyards.
Rover Chair (3.5 litre one-seater), 1981, leather imitation, metal, foam, plastic, and lacquered steel, Ron Arad
Designers also play a part in developing a national identity. Following WWII, post-war reconstruction in Asia contributed to economic development and national image-building.
Asian Design seen through lens of significant moments of upheaval
Artists and architects across the region played a pivotal role in updating countries’ local and national identities. The exhibition showcases significant moments of upheaval in the East, South and Southeast Asia regions through economic turbulence, global exchange and radical political movements.
East Meets West poster for Creation Gallery G8, Tokyo, 1991, offset lithograph, Alan Chan
In relation to nationalistic agendas in East and Southeast Asia, design was instrumental in its construction and dissemination. Political ideologies were spread through various visual propaganda.
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The Vietnam War (1955–1975) was a modern war that impacted the entire global community. This chaotic period saw the production of many nationalist products for everyday use.
Aid Vietnam against the United States commemorative comb, 1967-1968, Aluminium, Unknown (Vietnam)
One example, the Aid Vietnam against the US commemorative comb, was cast from the wreckage of a US air force F-105 fighter bomber.
The fighter bomber used was shot down by Chinese anti-aircraft artillery in 1967. The comb, carved in the shape of a plane, expresses its maker’s optimism in defeating the Americans and securing Vietnam’s communist rule.
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Many objects designed in this era strove to keep hope burning in the hearts of the Vietnamese people. On the American side of the battle, the government positioned the war as a stand for freedom and liberty.
Freedom or Communism poster United States Information Service ca. 1965, Offset lithograph
Created in 1965, the Freedom or Communism poster was part of the US Information Service’s (USIS) joint Freedom or Communism propaganda campaign with the Thai government. Intended to counter the spread of communism, the USIS hired artists to design a series of posters for the rural population to communicate the differences between life under communism and capitalism.
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In the poster displayed, the left is an imagined outcome of communism – civilians suffering amidst violence, running everywhere and being horribly injured. On the right, the people are content and happy.
Viewed in isolation, the full imagery is shocking. But propaganda, intended to blend in with everyday surroundings, is intended to become subconsciously accepted as the norm.
Bamboo Basket Chair, designed 1950, made 2010, shioji wood, bamboo, and iron, Kenmochi Design Associates
In the postwar era, prosperity also led to the marketing of new product types, as well as innovations in consumer goods and export industries.
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The growth of domestic markets across Asia and increased global consumption led to the worldwide success of these products.
Gold Coin Orange Vacuum Flask by Freezeinhot Bottle Company, 1960s, Aluminium, glass, silver, rubber and cork
Industry focus varied according to specific conditions and available resources. Hong Kong’s far-reaching networks and nimble manufacturers made it a centre of trade and production of plastic goods, garments, and toys.
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Japan led as a manufacturing and Asian design powerhouse through its engineering and branding of cars, furniture, and consumer electronics.
Rio chaise longue, 1978, made 1982 Brazilian pau ferro (wood) and straw, Oscar and Anna Maria Niemeyer
Among consumers, mobility was a growing interest. In the late 1970s, Sony cofounder Ibuka Masaru wanted a portable listening device for aeroplane use.
Iconic Sony Walkman
In response, the company’s engineer Kuroki Yasuo modified the Sony Pressman handheld recorder to make a playing-only, high-quality music device with headphones.
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This became the Walkman portable cassette player model TPS-L2. Comprised of plastic and electronic parts, the design and tech allowed for a personal and immersive listening experience.
Walkman portable cassette player, model TPS-L2, 1979, Aluminium, plastic and electronic parts, Sony Corporation
The device was a huge hit, and personal portable listening devices have been a staple in modern culture since.
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In 1988, Sony expanded its demographic target to the new young consumer. Its My First Sony series sparked children’s curiosity about sound and electronics; its primary colours guided play, and the devices were fitted with features and sound quality typically found in Sony products geared towards adults.
My First Sony (TCM-4500) Cassette-recorder (TCM-4040), 1988, plastic and electronic parts, Sony Corporation,
In this hyper-consumerist backdrop, buyers formed strong attachments with their objects and brand names.
Artificial intelligence robot – AIBO
At the turn of the century, Sony developed a robotic toy dog. Named AIBO, its name merges the English term ‘artificial intelligence robot’ and ‘aibou’, a Japanese word for “friend”.
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Built with an enclosed camera and sensors that detect touch and sound, AIBO could see and recognise spoken commands.
AIBO entertainment robot, model ERS-110, 1999 Plastic, electronic parts and LED, Sorayama Hajime, designer
Its tremendous popularity represented the growing assimilation of robotics into daily life in the late 1990s.
After Sony ceased production in 2006, funerals were held for “dead” AIBOs before they were sent off to become “organ donors” for others requiring repair.
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Expanding to a macro perspective, cities and urban landmarks also experienced shifts in design elements with postmodernism.
Elevation for Plug-in University Node, 1965, Ink on transparent paper, Peter Cook
In the 1960s, architects sought to re-evaluate how architecture could keep pace with post-war societal changes.
These responses to modern technologies, rapid urbanisation, and economic growth introduced radically new spatial design and construction possibilities.
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Drawing Architecture Studio’s high-density spectacle, In the air, on the ground, under the sea collapses past and present, fiction and reality, as well as formal and informal planning in one visual piece.
In the Air, on the Ground, under the Sea, 2020, Digital drawing, Drawing Architecture Studio
The illustration features movable, modular, and expandable architecture, giving a sense of the imagined future.
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Postmodernist works were characterised by historical and popular cultural references, taking on ironic and whimsical elements.
Graphic work Cities on the Move: Bangkok
In 1999, Thai artist Rirkrit Tiravanjia developed Cities on the Move: Bangkok. The graphic work features Bangkok tuk-tuk driver Kosit, who is transported far into the future to 2542 (Corresponding to 1999 on the Thai calendar).
Cities on the Move: Bangkok, 1999, Pencil and pen on paper, Navin Rawnchaikui and Rirkrit Tiravanija
In this imagined universe buildings move and taxis fly. To save his kidnapped lover, the protagonist brings to life the Bank of Asia Tower (or the Robot Building) to fight the evil “Louis XIV Tower”.
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In 1990s Bangkok, Louis XIV was a popular term for buildings designed in a European neoclassical style associated with new money. Kosit’s triumph expresses a critique of the architecture that arose during Thailand’s boom years of the 1980s and 1990s and a belief in the strength of local architectural forms.
M+ exhibition: Things, Space, Interactions
Design and architecture define the things we use, create the spaces we inhabit, and ultimately inform the way we see and live in the world. Aesthetic elements move across borders and are shaped by transnational exchange.
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Architecture can be reactionary or aspirational and frequently reflects the cultural pulse of the time and place of its creation.
Bramah pendant light, 2012, anodised aluminium, Michael Young
Beyond basic infrastructure and functional furniture, the design elements explored at M+, Hong Kong’s visual culture museum exhibition titled: Things, Space, Interactions pose worthy questions and propose possible solutions for best relating to our surroundings.
Text and photos by Victoria Mae Martyn
