www.fastcodesign.com: A former set designer and prop stylist, Alisa Grifo and her husband Marco ter Haar Romeny opened Kiosk in 2005. The SoHo boutique, which closed its brick-and-mortar location in 2014, celebrated everyday and esoteric objects the couple found while traveling the world. The revolving collections included things like Romanian cheese presses, Dutch laundry soap, Obama campaign gliders, and foot-long calculators from Hong Kong. In the past decade, Grifo, ter Haar Romeny, and their intrepid team have amassed an archive of 1,276 items, which are all on view in an epic installation for MoMA PS1's Greater New York exhibition.
7 comments:
I would love to be able to see this exhibit, since just from the pictures alone I'm drawn into the idea of everyday objects telling a story about their country of origin. There are so many facets to this exhibit that are interesting in their own way: the design of each object and how it relates to its function, the arranging of the objects in the clear shelves, and the story behind each object. While I could wax poetic about the importance of objects that we use every day and how easy it is to take them for granted until we see an exhibit that puts them in a global perspective, I think the most interesting part of this idea would be the things you don't see on a regular basis. I would love to see how the design of objects from Germany or Brazil differs from things produced in Japan or Norway. The colors and materials could probably tell you a lot about the culture of its country of origin and what aspects of design they place highest importance on. Although this sounds trite, I wonder if each country has an identifiable "aesthetic" when it comes to designing things as mundane as soap dishes or soda bottles.
Oh my! So this is what Greater New York is all about. I went back home to NY over winter break and completed several volunteer shifts at the MoMA-- I heard a lot about MoMA PS1's exhibition from being back, but I had no clue that this exhibition was part of it. When I was reading the article and that was made clear, I was very pleasantly surprised. I think that the idea of collecting objects from each place that represent it not only in terms of a political and cultural context but also in terms of design is a interesting idea. I appreciate and resonate with the artist's attempt in picking objects that were unique to the place backside whenever I travel, I always aim to bring something back that couldn't have been made anywhere else in the world except for that specific location. I will be home in NYC for spring break and so I hope to catch this exhibition before it closes on March 7!
Not only is this a really interesting exhibit to see the countries of the world represented by over a thousand simple objects, but this of what a great museum this would make in years to come as the world continues to change. This couple has effetely made a snapshot of the ordinary world as it has been in the past decade. The fact that they’ve documented the story behind each object is amazing and something I would really love to read. So often we get caught up in whats the most amazing thing to come out of a country or what is the stereotype surrounding it, but what they have captured in this exhibit is the common, the everyday. And yet they did all the research to get the perfect thing.
I wish the article went a little more in-depth on why the shelves are made the way they are. The corrugated plastic blurs out the object and the colors around it, making it rather hard to see what the little thing is and I’m interested to know the thought process behind that. Pictures of the exhibit can only do so much; I assume it’s a lot easier to see what everything is in person.
This is so awesome! I would love to visit this exhibit one day! To start off, the idea itself is fantastic. to collect simple items to display from a certain place is a great way to get sense of how that place really was during their history. many times exhibits are made up of expensive paintings and unique artifacts that are considered priceless to represent the place and its history, but I feel like Alisa Grifo and her husband Marco ter Haar Romeny's exhibit can give you a better sense of a locations history. The article explains that they didn't just go to a place a pick out random items for their exhibit, they did their research and pick items that were not only authentic, but gave them a sense of the history and the personality of the location. I also like the fact that the items they found have not been sitting in a where house its entire existence or in a museum for the past one hundred year, but they are items that Alisa and Marco recently found. They are items with history, from history. I wish all history lessons were this interesting!
This looks awesome! One of my favorite things about props is what they say about where they came from. Little details in set dressing, like the right kind of paintbrush in a jar or the right photos on a wall add so much history to a place, and help to tell the story as it should be understood by the audience. Similarly, collecting things from interesting places when I travel serves to remind me forever of where and when the object was acquired: little things like that act almost as a snapshot of the trip. My question, then, is why people would buy these objects, if they didn’t collect them themselves? Though the curators of the store have traveled to collect these objects that are representative of the countries, they don't carry the same memories or connotations that they would have if someone had collected them for themselves. I think it would be a really interesting exhibit, where each object is displayed with its story and contextual history, rather than as a shop for interesting objects from around the world.
I think the simple appreciation of objects and the stories they tell is so important to theatre designers, us creators of worlds, for not only must we create these objects - be they clothes, props, or otherwise. We must also create for them the story they wish to tell, and help them to better tell it without writing a single word. So often we forget that the objects which a character touches had to have come from somewhere just like all the many insignificant odds and ends which we ourselves own. A cup is just a cup. A tie is just a tie. A chair is just a chair. But this is not the case. For if a character enters their living room with a life's worth of stories to tell, shouldn't that chair be at least one of those stories? If every line has subtext, shouldn't every prop, costume piece, and set decoration? This exhibit stands as an undiluted, unabashed celebration of the memory of objects. Designers everywhere ought to take note.
I think this is a fascinating idea. Especially for those who can’t travel, this is a great way to experience other cultures. Does this qualify as art? I’m not sure. But it is interesting. What I find the most interesting about this story is the care this couple has taken to get the story and provenance behind each of the items that they found. This concept seems like it is a cross between an antique shop, an exhibit in anthropology, and art. It is amazing to me to think that something as simple as finding objects across the world can land one an exhibit at the MoMA. Then again, with all of the research and history behind these objects, it isn’t so simple. Despite this couple selling some of these items, I wonder how much money they spent on this quest. Flying to Iceland can’t be cheap. And with some trips as long as six weeks, places to stay and food will also add up in cost. I guess the cost is worth it when you end up where they are – with an exhibit at the MoMA.
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