"Hyper Actif - New Territories" exhibition

Open is more (freedom is in the details)

The “HYPER ACTIF” (HYPER ACTIVE) exhibition is a progression and an explicit illustration of the project matali crasset has been developing since 1991.  “HYPER ACTIF” shows how objects try to be more than what they are supposed to be, how they fight constraints, automatisms and confinement to specific functions.

matali crasset always gives users the opportunity to touch, twist and turn her creations.  This ability to transform is always visible, sometimes in the form of tiny details which can be seen nestling on the surface of the object (outgrowths, cuts, projections, recesses, tabs, etc.)

matali crasset - Seul-ensemble (alone-together) 2008 - seating to share - photos: Charles Duprat

“Seul-ensemble” (alone-together) is an armchair which can be turned into a table for 4 to 6 guests: the back of the chair becomes the table top, with recesses showing where the guests will be sitting. The seat serves as a trestle and the cushions are used to sit on the floor. This concept is reminiscent of the “Permis de construire” (license to build) toy-sofa (2000) which allowed various combinations, and of the “Link” line of tableware designed for the Hi hotel in 2002.

Each piece of furniture in the “HYPER ACTIF” exhibition takes the concepts developed by matali over the years a step further.  This physically mutant furniture affects the mind like Trojan horses or Russian dolls:  you transform an object, open up your mind and liberate yourself (at least partly or symbolically).

Unlike radical or political design in the 70s, this desire for liberation does not consider the individual as an end but rather as a starting point. matali believes that our power of adaptation goes beyond the limit of everyday objects. matali asserts that she does not design objects so much as she offers “life scenarios”. However, we tend to confuse “scenario” with “personalized need” which does not take into account changes needed at specific times. matali crasset says: “Change is poorly thought of.  And yet, life is nothing but a succession of transformations and sudden developments. So why don’t we imagine a more active structure, furniture with less specific functions which could evolve with the needs of our multiple activities within one space.”

In order to overcome this “specificity”, matali crasset has created her own conceptual and practical tools. Used independently or jointly, these tools allow her to consider every project, from the simplest to the most complex, with the same rigor, lightness and versatility. Objects and furniture presented at the “HYPER ACTIF” exhibition illustrate four of these conceptual tools.

matali crasset - Formel-informel (formal-informal) - seating attitudes - photos: Charles Duprat

“Formel-informel” (formal-informal) is a throne-like chair consisting of a “box of tranquility” and a side table.  This concept of a dual object reminds us of “Chaise travesties” (transvestite chairs) (2002) which consists of a single structure dressed up to look like the silhouettes of famous designer chairs (Branzi, Thonet, Jacobsen).

Modularity

“Seul-ensemble” (alone-together) is an armchair which can be turned into a table for 4 to 6 guests: the back of the chair becomes the table top, with recesses showing where the guests will be sitting. The seat serves as a trestle and the cushions are used to sit on the floor. This concept is reminiscent of the “Permis de construire” (license to build) toy-sofa (2000) which allowed various combinations, and of the “Link” line of tableware designed for the Hi hotel in 2002.

Extensibility

The two side extensions of the “Triphase” armchair may be placed inside various slots to serve as, from bottom to top, fold-out side tables, armrests or soundproof screens placed at head level. This type of extendible chair is a recurring concept in matali crasset’s work: “empathic chair with extension” (1994), “Il capriccio di Ugo” (1997), “Mother and child” (2002).

Transformation

“Formel-informel” (formal-informal) is a throne-like chair consisting of a “box of tranquility” and a side table.  This concept of a dual object reminds us of “Chaise travesties” (transvestite chairs) (2002) which consists of a single structure dressed up to look like the silhouettes of famous designer chairs (Branzi, Thonet, Jacobsen).

Reversibility

“Recto-verso” is an “active/passive” seat. One side serves as a desk or reading station; the other side allows the user to sit more comfortably by turning around and sliding the table away.  matali crasset used the same process for the Twinskin bag (2002) or the Decompression Chair (2000), a simple chair which can turn into armchair.

All of the above concepts take into account the time and space fragmentation of contemporary identity.  These tools help matali overcome the past generation’s functional issue, summed up by Ettore Sottsass in his “Metafore” photo series. In particular his “design for the rights of Man” series challenged users thus: “Do you want to sleep, or do you want a bed?”; “Do you want to sit, or do you want a throne?”. 

matali crasset - Triphase - polycomfort seating - photos: Charles Duprat

The two side extensions of the “Triphase” armchair may be placed inside various slots to serve as, from bottom to top, fold-out side tables, armrests or soundproof screens placed at head level. This type of extendible chair is a recurring concept in matali crasset’s work: “empathic chair with extension” (1994), “Il capriccio di Ugo” (1997), “Mother and child” (2002).

matali designs polymorphic furniture which evolves in accordance with the needs of our multiple activities within one space. Our behavior is no longer adapted to the furniture, it is the furniture that adapts to our behavior. Each piece of furniture can be used in many, sometimes contradictory or incompatible, ways. The “oreiller de lecture – oreiller stand-up” (reading pillow – sit-up pillow) for example can be used as is to lie down on the floor and read, or can be unzipped to open up like shellfish and turn into a more formal chair. Another similar example is the “table et tiroirs – table pour faire” (table and drawers – work table): at rest, this piece is folded into a chest of drawers which turns into a desk for action to begin. This specificity has been part of matali’s projects ever since her famous 1998 “Téo de 2 à 3” nap stool. The “table travestie” (transvestite table) (2000) could either be used to cook, eat or work, while “Air Corner” (2001) could alternatively be used as a sofa, a separating screen or a guest bed.

Open is more (freedom is in the details): this portmanteau title is yet another variation on Mies van der Rohe’s modernistic axioms (1), and refers to the beautiful title of another exhibition organized by Jan Hoet at the Gent Museum (Belgium) in 1989: “Open Mind (gesloten circuit)” (Open Mind (closed circuit))(2) .

The ambition of that exhibition was to maintain the essence of the relationship between individuals and works of art inside the Museum. Instability, discomfort, anxiety, intimacy and pleasure are notions which do not always outlive the passage from the artistic sphere to the cultural venue.  Jan Hoet said: “…safety has always been a major problem in the confrontation with museums and works of art. I have always tried to eradicate safety because I believe it is impossible to fully understand a work of art” (3).

The exhibition included drawings of insane people which were examples of this open-mindedness. This is directly related to the picture initially chosen by matali crasset to illustrate the “HYPER ACTIF” exhibition.  The photograph of a woman wearing a straightjacket inside a plush apartment illustrates the idea that objects can be the cause of a feeling of confinement or alienation. “We tend to become dependent on objects”, matali says.  Disobedience can therefore have liberating effects: “I always add small doses of disobedience into my projects.  I also believe that non-conformism leads to innovation” (4).

Functionalism / alienation

Based on the Marxian theory of alienation, Henri Lefebvre, whose work on the “Critique of Everyday Life” has inspired Debord, was the first philosopher to study “that region of appropriation by Man of his own nature, rather than outside nature, as the place where goods are confronted with needs which have more or less turned into desire (5).

Designers are prime actors in the definition of the response given by industrial production (and more rarely craftsmanship) to these “needs/desires”.  Even though the first industrial revolution took place a long time ago, and even though design is not a young and immature discipline anymore, this supply and demand policy is still based on a functionalist view.

When a project is based on use rather than on the user, design is unable to take individual needs into account.  One might say, although this would be a rather extreme statement, that functionalism is, at the level of the object, a form of eugenics (or at least of Darwinism).  By trying to impose a single way to sit, eat or sleep, functionalism amplifies frustrations.  This failing, which was clearly identified by the supporters of social modernism, has led, at best, members of the American upper class to abandon their neoclassical palaces for austere, low-ceilinged dwellings which had been designed for the East German working class (6).  This “inverted social revenge” is deeply felt by collectors of Jean Prouvé’s furniture…

The sociologist Émile Durkheim has analyzed the devastating effects of functionalism, the discrepancy between cultural goals promoted by a given society (“values”) and the legitimate means given to individuals (“norms”).  As we can imagine, this inevitable discrepancy increases with social and educational differences.  Indeed, only a small part of the population has access common values.  Thus, Durkheim created the concept of “anomie”.  Later, Robert K. Merton identified four groups of anomic behaviors:

- ritualism, which  reproduces the norms but forgets the goals (the bureaucrat)
- innovation, which occurs when an individual uses illegitimate means to reach the goal (the bandit)
- retreatism, which  rejects both the means and the goals (the hermit) 
- rebellion, which occurs when an individual rejects both culturally defined goals and means, and substitutes new goals and means (the hippy).

When applied to design, this list helps to understand why functionalism is still currently widespread.

Postmodernism has been spreading since the 80s in reaction to functionalism, leading to what specialists now call “design-art”. Rather than solve the contradictions of functionalism, the recent incursions of designers into “grand art” have generally led to the production of new “objets-plus”, to use the title of Pierre Restany’s book. “objets-plus” (plus-objects) modify the relationship between art and industrial objects; industrial objects become works of art.” “It is this acceptance of the normality of difference which constitutes the post-modern condition” (7).

This is exactly how our society of show-business and overconsumption tries to convince consumers: give them the illusion that their difference is not only safe, but also sublimated by the product. This is no magic, but a trick as old as the hills based on pseudo-personalization (customization, limited edition of products), a sense of personal history (vintage editions), a sense of belonging to a new community (organic products).

We live our lives in a “time where aesthetics and utilitarism have not only blended into one another, but have also become an integral part of trade.  Everything including architecture, art exhibitions, genes and jeans seems to be considered as design”.  “The project of reconciliation of Art and Life which had been taken on by the Art Nouveau and the Bauhaus movements, to name a few, was not achieved through the liberating ambitions of the avant-garde but through the spectacular injunctions of the cultural industry.  Design is one of the many forms that this insidious reconciliation comes in” (8).

This poor imitation of “reconciliation” causes equal trouble to artists and authentic designers.  “Corporate art” or “business art” by Jeff Koons or Damien Hirst and “studio” productions by Ron Arad or Marc Newson are symmetrical; they even share the same galleries and art collectors.

Open projects / Closed circuit

The quest for a liberating function of the object may appear as a utopia.  Such impossibility is at the center of a designer’s activity as he can only add new objects to the ones that already exist. A temporary accomplice of Debord, Ettore Sottsass (Alba, 1957, First Situationist International) expressed his feeling of helplessness thus: “Of course, we need something to sit on. What I need to know is, why are there one hundred million types of chairs, and another one hundred million plastic chairs, and so many other chairs? What can I do about it?” (9)

In reaction, matali takes the risk of imagining “open” projects in a “closed circuit”. The comments posted on the Internet illustrate this point (10). The Hi project is not a sociological approach in the scientific sense. Yet, the project is very interesting as the very principle of the hotel is to offer a different experience. It is a new, relaxed way to experiment new models.

With this project, malati crasset is trying to provide as many solutions as possible to the question of “contemporary luxury”. She designed nine rooms for the Hi hotel based on “desires” rather than set “community profiles”. The names and detailed descriptions of the rooms provided at the reception desk and on the website of the hotel allow guests to be fully informed when they make their reservations. The comments left at the end of the stay prove that you don’t choose the Hi at random: “We chose this hotel for its singular concept. Everything is very pleasant and trendy”, says a young anonymous couple. Others, like Sarah from the United-Kingdom, praise the originality and the “uniqueness” of the hotel.

However, some guests also leave “negative” comments like “this is not a conventional hotel” and remark upon the “lack of practicality”. For instance, Leona, from Finland, did not like having a bathtub in the middle of her bedroom. Denis criticized the fact that there was no furniture on which to “put a suitcase or a toilet bag”.

More than judgments, some of the comments can be highly instructive. Young Sarah, mentioned above, said: “what we liked the least was the fact that the toilet was in the middle of the room. We could not use it and had to get out of the room to use the public toilet instead”. The young couple chose to tack their own lifestyle onto a purposefully different one rather than change their habits for a day. We can understand that Sarah and her partner were reluctant to use the toilet in front of each other. Still, they could have tried turning the lights off or leaving the room while the other was using the toilet.

When faced with an unusual situation, this young couple refused to adapt and generated their own discomfort.  As Bruno Murani says: “In order to make yourself understood, you need to connect with the mental stereotypes of the person you are addressing or else he will not understand you.  If you cannot make such a contact, the person you are talking will have no idea what to make of your message as he will not be able to connect it with anything he already knows.

Some stereotypes may be harmful, but others are necessary. Those that impose a solution but prevent you to understand such solution are harmful.  Necessary stereotypes, which are sometimes referred to as conventions, are those that a whole nation, or a whole culture, have come to see as fundamental.

The alphabet, for instance, may be considered as a stereotype, but certainly not as a harmful one” (11). Designers should be given poetic credit for the beauty of indifference, or what the anthropologist Jean Pouillon called “the pleasure of not understanding”.

Stéphane Corréard

(1) “Less is more” and “God is in the details”
(2) Later, in the spring of 2008, Jan Hoet invited matali to the “Ad Absurdum” exhibition at the MARTa museum in Herford, Germany
(3) Jan Hoet, interview with the « Sans titre » review, 1989
(4) matali crasset, quoted by Chantal Prod’hom, in « matali crasset un pas de côté 91/02», mu.dac Somogy 2002
(5)  Henri Lefebvre, Critique de la vie quotidienne, 1947
(6) See Tom Wolfe’s brilliant jeer on the subject in « Il court, il court le Bauhaus »
(7) Pierre Restany, interview with Jérôme Sans, L’officiel de la Mode, 1990
(8) Hal Foster, Design & crime, translated by Christophe Jaquet, Les Prairies ordinaires 2008
(9) Ettore Sottsass, C’est pas facile la vie, translated Italo Passamonti, Éditions Salvy 1989
(10) Comments found the www.booking.com website
(11) Bruno Munari, Silvana Editoriale, 2007

About the author

Stéphane Corréard is a curator and writer specialized in contemporary art and design.
He has organised many exhibitions since the early 90ies in France and abroad. In the design field, one recalls the major exhibition "Iluminar" that he curated a few years ago in Sao Paulo.
He is now the art director of the "Salon de Montrouge" a major French event intended to reveal the work of young artists.

Matali Crasset's website

Centre des Arts Enghien-les-Bains
Exhibition "HYPERACTIF - NEW TERRITORIES"
From January 30 to March 22 2009

The exhibition catalogue can be bought at the lieu Commun eShop