During this period, we create a research team to work on new ways to rethink virtual and physical exhibitions. Our first virtual exhibition will be online on 04.06.2020 at @ familyguys.works
Studio’s activities continued during this period. Our team remains available to talk about your projects, imagine collaborations.
For six months, the workshop has been supporting the eleven laureates of the Pli Public Workshop⁰¹.
Cut, assemble, color and fit inside and out, these are the main principles of this furniture project. In collaboration with designer Benjamin Decle, we offer an adaptable furniture that fit different everyday situations. Identical sections allow you to see and understand an easy-to-assemble object that adapts to both indoor and outdoor environments. Through the exploration of the different possibilities of action – at the scale of the object – the effect on the architectural environment takes on a new meaning.
Basile di Manski is a Parisian musician and singer. The studio has created for him a scenographic device adaptable to his next performances. The device is made out of several printed curtains and is adaptable to any venue. A play of cut-outs in the fabric creates a false perspective effect, which brings structure to the stage and invites the singer to move through the curtains. Combined with the different light effects and various foam objects, the printed color gradients allow the artist to choose from a variety of colorimetric atmospheres, becoming paintings with each different song of the set.
The scenography will be produced for the next concert dates of Basile in 2020.
Leading a multidisciplinary team composed of architects, designers and graphic designers, the studio co-produced the first edition of the Pli Public Workshop at the Pavillon de l’Arsenal, Paris. Created by Pli Éditions in 2019, the latter is a creative support program dedicated to the new generation of architects and designers.
Over a period of several months, the studio oversaw the production of eleven installations by the program’s laureates, while producing the exhibition and bringing to life the scenography designed by Adrien Rovero Studio. By considering museography as a tool for mediation, the studio sought to question the codes of presentation set up in an exhibition. This exhibition was made possible thanks to an efficient and original synthesis of various creative disciplines, which is emblematic of the work process established by the studio in each of its projects.
The studio co-produced the first exhibition of the Pli Public Workshop, held from November 2019 to January 2020 at the Pavillon de l’Arsenal in Paris. Dedicated to research and the production of a project, this creative assistance program offers an accompaniment from professionals from the fields of architecture, art and design.
Over a period of several months, the studio oversaw the design and production of the laureates’ works, brought together in a collective exhibition reflecting on creating and experimenting around the theme of Obsession. Prototypes or finished objects, videos or models, immersive installations or micro-architectures, these new productions crystallized ways of thinking and doing, creative processes and as many approaches that question architecture and design in a tangible way. This project shows the importance that the studio attaches to supporting and encouraging young contemporary creation.
Yanis is a French singer, actively involved in the Parisian Queer scene. After a first album, he came back with new artistic and performative proposals, which the studio interpreted in a scenography. Conceived for a tailor-made show at the Mains d’Œuvres space (Saint-Ouen), the set design is composed of several printed screens, various objects and platforms, sound and light devices. This show allowed us to collaborate with light engineers, sound technicians, dancers and performers. Produced to a sold-out audience, this collaborative project was extended when Yanis was invited to play the premiere of Hyphen Hyphen at the Zenith-la Villette in Paris.
Aimko Paris (creative agency) has commissioned the studio and Ubalt Architectes to design the showroom for the new SS19 Adidas collection in an ephemeral 2500 m² venue. The devices we designed were made using elements from the world of building and construction. Assembled and diverted from their primary use, they become seats, displays, room dividers and various supports. The venue was opened by invitation to professional buyers and influencers from the sneaker and sportswear scene for two weeks during the 2018 Paris Fashion Week.
The We Love Green music festival was the occasion to experiment with large-scaled creation through an ephemeral installation. We designed this scenography as an opportunity to interact with the public, and invite visitors to start a new dialogue with the objects. Entirely transportable and adaptable to the festival grounds, these colored objects allow visitors to walk through them, as their material properties (inflatable, translucent etc.) do not make them obstacles. The idea is to create an event within the festival itself by installing a village of shapes. Like in situ folies, they offer a pause in the wandering of the festival-goers. This project has remained at the state of a sketch.
For the 4th Bienniale of the Réseau des Maisons de l’architecture (the french network of architecture houses), the studio was invited to lead both the general curating of the bienniale, and the curating of the Pari exhibition taking place at the DOC! space in Paris. Playing with the codes and various interpretations of the engagements of designers and architects, the project was articulated around two spaces : the former swimming pool and the former refectory. In a scenography designed by Peaks Architects, the studio exhibited a co-presence of already-made artworks and objects & installations created specifically for the event.
As the Frac Paca needed nine travelling exhibition modules, we designed a collection of furniture which could adapt itself to the artworks in display. This collection of furniture aims to offer mobility and adaptability to an exhibition space. Using metal tubes and modular shelves, we imagined a shelving system able to adapt its structure to its content. This solution makes it possible to recreate rooms, walls and ceilings to accommodate and allow different displays and hanging systems. This project remained in the sketch stage.
As a part of the production team of the villa Noailles (Hyères), the studio designed, produced and oversaw the montage of the Maison Schiaparelli exhibition (which led the 2017 fashion jury). In the swimming pool of the villa, we decided to recreate, day and night, an aquatic activity. We exhibited a historical fashion collection of the haute couture house with and aerial centerpiece. At the heart of the 32nd Hyères International Fashion and Photography Festival, the exhibition welcomed 11 000 visitors.
As a part of the production team of the villa Noailles (Hyères), the studio produced and supervised the montage of the architectural exhibition La Boite de Nuit (« the nightclub »). Thanks to the magic of the technical device, thousands of silver dots run across the walls and the lawn : Robert Mallet-Stevens’ architecture fades away to recreate the very essence of the nightclub : a place of emancipation and sensory exacerbation that erases any reference to the material world. The exhibition welcomed 5,000 visitors.
Following the release of the fourth issue of its magazine, the publishing house Pli Éditions organized this exhibition in the gallery of the famous French design magazine Étapes:. Choosing to put aside the creative process aside for once, the exhibition turns to the primary objects : raw materials. The genesis of the creations of ten artists, architects, designer and graphic designers were showcased. The exhibited pieces included works from Atelier Irradié, the Kandinsky Library, Fanette Mellier, Léo Grunstein and Camille Berger (Studio Philippe Apeloig), Les Graphiquants, matali crasset, Philippe Rahm, Pierre Antoine, Samy Rio and Spassky Fischer.
Co-signed with Pli Éditions and Collectif Blanc, this exhibition took place in an unusual place : a contemporary dance studio in Montreal. The exhibition reunited artists from Paris and Montreal. The immersive scenography allowed visitors to have free access to the exhibited pieces, thus questioning and hijacking traditional ways of showcasing graphic and editorial pieces. The four-day event was completed by performances (artists, dancers, etc.) and the presence of a bookstore (Canadian Centre for Architecture).
This exhibition focuses on making tangible the invisible process of creating a publication. Sous Pli looks behind the scenes of physical and conceptual production to showcase a space of trials, failures and successes. Articulated in letters (time) and numbers (exchanges), 120 layouts and discussions were exhibited. Through a 3-meter high extruded plane, the accumulation of suspended paper creates a penetrable and accessible architecture.
