Dezeen Magazine

Round-up of architecture and design exhibitions autumn 2019

Top 10 architecture and design exhibitions: autumn 2019

We've rounded up the 10 best architecture and design exhibitions taking place around the world this autumn. For industry events across October, November and December, refer to our comprehensive month-by-month guide.


Top 10 architecture and design exhibitions: autumn 2019

The Coming World: Ecology as the New Politics 2030–2100
Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, 9-32 Krymsky Val, Moscow
Until 1 December

In the first major Russian exhibition to explore the topic of ecology and climate change, the entire Garage Museum in Moscow has been taken over by works from a slew of artists including Le Corbusier, Huang Yong Ping and Hans Haack.

To reduce the environmental footprint of the show, curators Ekaterina Lazareva and Snejana Krasteva decided to reuse structural materials from previous exhibitions and forwent booklets in favour of a digital catalogue and Soundcloud audio guide.


Top 10 architecture and design exhibitions: autumn 2019

Herbert Bayer: Bauhaus Master
Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, 2 E 91st Street, New York
16 November 2019 – 5 April 2020

In celebration of the Bauhaus centenary, a collection of rare works by one of the school's biggest proponents will be on display at New York's Cooper Hewitt museum.

It will chart the enduring influence of Herbert Bayer on the face of modern graphic design, including his creation of Bauhaus' universal typography.


Top 10 architecture and design exhibitions: autumn 2019

Charlotte Perriand: Inventing a New World
Fondation Louis Vuitton, 8 Avenue du Mahatma Gandhi, Paris
2 October 2019 – 24 February 2020

To commemorate the 20th anniversary of the death of Charlotte Perriand, Inventing a New World examines how the French architect, designer and artist went beyond the realms of either discipline in her pursuit of a "synthesis of the arts."

In keeping with this spirit, the exhibit features ceramics, tapestries and other works by a cast of artists from Joan Miró to Pablo Picasso, side-by-side with some of her seminal furniture and building designs.


Top 10 architecture and design exhibitions: autumn 2019

KAWS: Companionship in the Age of Loneliness
NGV International, 180 St Kilda Road, Melbourne
Until 13 April 2020

Spanning 25 years of his work, this show by contemporary artist-cum-designer KAWS highlights the emotional undertones beneath his ostensibly irreverent, toy-like pieces.

It features a selection of his trademark sculptural figures, alongside a newly commissioned statue – which at seven metres tall is his largest bronze piece to date – and a dedicated pop-up shop full of largely sold out collectibles.


Top 10 architecture and design exhibitions: autumn 2019

After the Wall: Design since 1989
Vitra Design Museum, Charles-Eames-Str. 2, Weil am Rhein
26 October 2019 – 23 February 2020

In November 1989, The Vitra Design Museum opened and the Berlin Wall fell. Now, the museum is showing a retrospective of the past three decades of design and how it has evolved since then.

It will feature work by the likes of Konstantin Grcic and Hella Jongerius, housed within the museum's permanent collection of more than 7,000 furniture pieces in the Herzog & de Meuron-designed Schaudepot gallery.


Top 10 architecture and design exhibitions: autumn 2019

Consume: Handcrafting L.A. Restaurant Design
Craft In America Center, 8415 West 3rd Street, Los Angeles
Until 4 January 2020

The design behind LA's thriving food scene is brought to the fore in this display of tableware and furniture handmade by more than 30 local artisans.

A series of accompanying talks will feature artists and chefs from restaurants such as Michelin-starred n/naka and Somni, as well as Klein Agency-decorated Auburn, discussing how well-designed tools can transform our eating experience.


Top 10 architecture and design exhibitions: autumn 2019

Moving to Mars
Design Museum, 224-238 Kensington High Street, London
18 October 2019 – 23 February 2020

With original objects from NASA and Elon Musk's SpaceX, as well as new commissions from Konstantin Grcic and a roster of other designers, this project gives us a glimpse of what life on another planet might be like – and the role that design has to play within that.

Highlights include a full-scale, 3D printed Mars habitat, hydroponic farming kits and an ExoMars rover prototype by the European Space Agency.


Top 10 architecture and design exhibitions: autumn 2019

The Architect’s Studio: Tatiana Bilbao
Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Gammel Strandvej 13, 3050 Humlebæk
18 October 2019 – 5 April 2020

Visitors of the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art can take a behind-the-scenes look at the ideas and processes of Tatiana Bilbao in the latest iteration of Architect's Studio – a series of exhibitions profiling architects with a social and environmental conscience.

After previous spotlights on Amateur Architecture Studio and Chile-based Elemental, this third instalment deals with Bilbao's Mexican heritage, her enduring fascination with natural landscapes and geometry and how these influences manifest themselves in her work.


Top 10 architecture and design exhibitions: autumn 2019
James Turrell's Apani is part of his seminal Ganzfeld series. Photography is by Florian Holzherr

James Turrell: Passages of Light
Museo Jumex, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra 303, Colonia Granada 11520, Mexico City
22 November 2019 – 29 March 2020

The American artist is bringing his ethereal, coloured light installations to Jumex in Mexico City, with two pieces – one bright and one dark – created especially for the museum's terrace and first floor gallery.

They are accompanied by some of his recent dabbles in holography and computer controlled lighting as well as a history of his 45-year-long project to turn an inactive volcano crater in Arizona into an installation.


Top 10 architecture and design exhibitions: autumn 2019
Sugababe by Diemut Strebe is a living recreation of van Gogh's ear

Future and the Arts: AI, Robotics, Cities, Life - How Humanity Will Live Tomorrow
Mori Art Museum, 53F Roppongi Hills, Mori Tower, 6-10-1 Roppongi, Tokyo
19 November 2019 – 29 March 2020

This exhibition in Tokyo's Mori Art Museum was named by an artificial intelligence, with the final title chosen from the approximately 15,000 options that were generated.

The show explores how our cities and lifestyles might be transformed by the advent of new technologies. More than a hundred projects deal with everything from sustainable building materials and 3D printing in architecture, to biotechnology as illustrated by an exact recreation of Vincent van Gogh's cut-off ear.