Conversation Pieces, an apartment designed entirely by students, gets its name from the English term centrepieces, the decorative arrangements dating back to the Renaissance that are placed on ceremonial tables to generate a conversational topic for guests. Beyond its functional utility, could design also be used for debate?
In an apartment called Conversation Pieces, the design of spaces, products and objects from entire living spaces to furniture, from embroidered napkins to video games, from interactive wallpaper to ceramic centrepieces shows that materials, shapes and concepts can change the relations between people and invite them to converse, for example.
As its name suggests, Conversation Piecesis an exhibition which not only presents and exhibits the contextualized work of students in a theoretical controlled contemporary apartment, but also hosts a thematic evening dinner organized by Alexandra Midal and Jean-Pierre Greff, leading figures in the design world, students and a guest selected at random each day. Gathered around a large table, the rotating Masters of Ceremonies (Nicolas Nova, Martino Gamper and Åbäke, Yves Mirande and Ruedi Baur) discussed an important design issue with their hosts, dissected it, examined it and debated it over dinner. The event was filmed and broadcast the next day on the website of our media partner, TAR, the art magazine.
“What reasons are used by designers to make objects talk? Is it a question of simulating or defining an independent line of sensations? Looking beyond simple anthropomorphism, doesn’t design endowed with emotions take over?” – Alexandra Midal, Director of the HEAD-Geneva Master in Design
Studio tutors : Nitzan Cohen, Daniel Zamarbide
Workshop tutors : Matali Crasset, Magdalena Gerber, Camille Scherrer, Åbäke, Yves Mirande
Students :
BA Interior Architecture
BA Fashion, Jewellery and Accessories
MA Space and Communication
MA Media Design
CERCCO
Marie Adam, Jonathan Ageneau, Seila Alvarez, Benjamin Ben Kemoun, Jennifer Berger, Lucas Bertinotti, Emma Bertrand, Jessica Brancato, Clément Brazille, Ines-Charlotte Brodard, Marie Eve Brunner, Anissa Charef, Praiya Chinagarn, Liza Clivaz, Marthe Cresson, Felipe Delgado-Lopez, Timothé Deschamps, Erika Douadi, Basile Ehinger, Amélie Freyche, Hélène Gagliardi, Yulia Garcia-Skrebneva, Eva Gaume, Paolo Gnazzo, Sophie Grandjean, Antoine Guay, Barbara Jenny, Anastasia Karpova, Yuan Li, Alexandra Loader, Dorothée Loustalot, Johann Metral, Lucille Mosimann, Lucien Muchutti, Céline Mosset, Annja Müller, Berta Isquierdo Pastor, Agathe Pautrot, Roland Pillonel, Sandra Plisson, Amélie Ramseyer, Gaspar Reverdin, Aurélien Reymond, Anne-Sophie Richard, Sophie Ros, Helen Rosset, William Roussel, Andrea Rovescalli, Aline Sansonnens, Marine Sergent, Fabio Stefanoni, Monika Steiger, Nadezda Suvorova, Sandrine Theriault, Adriana Toro, Emeline Vitte, Morgane Zueger, Saskia Zürcher
Head of Department : Jan Geipel
Art Direction : Alexandra Midal
Photo Credits
© HEAD-Genève, Dylan Perrenoud
Conversation Pieces, Salone Internazionale del Mobile
Studio Daniel Zamarbide, Nitzan Cohen, HEAD–AI’ID, 2014
