Welcome To The House Of Wonders
Have you ever wondered what a housing magazine shoot might look like 5-10 years from now? German designer Werner Asslinger has materialised what might be his vision through a ‘House of Wonders’, displayed in Paternoster Hall at Die Neue Sammlung Design Museum, Munich. The installation presents a wide array of work from the designers extensive back-catalogue, all centered around the idea of life in the future.
Making use of the double story exhibition space, Asslinger is only the second designer to occupy the gallery; blurring the line between art and design, present and future, container and object. The installation intentionally occupies the volume in its entirety though a voyeuristic display of a not-too-distant-future living and working environment.
He envisages a world where ideas currently perceived ‘high tech’ become commonplace; the novelty of their usage removed. Where issues of ecology and sustainability are addressed unremarkably and high performance materials are seamlessly embedded alongside robotics in the fabric of tomorrow’s standard environment. With a body of work specifically concerned with innovative and unconventional solutions for product design and interior architecture, the exhibition serves to both highlight the potential of our future world and showcase the designer’s forward thinking stream of thought.
Taking cues from cutting edge automotive, robotic and bio-science innovations, various parts of the installation address all aspects of life- including recreation, relaxation, industry, and farming. Interested in the fluctuating state of the human condition, the installation is essentially ‘a collage of archetypes and high-tech objects’. The range of design items are presented in a way that unpretentiously displays how future ideas can exist in the familiar construct of our current daily lives.
The aesthetic of the exhibition also helps it appeal to a wide audience; one could even compare it to a modern day version of the set of The Jetsons– visions of the future have clearly always intrigued us. To have a physical manifestation of one such vision is particularly special; the jump from theoretical to realistic is one rarely made. Maybe with a few more walls, this version of a future world is one I personally would be quite happy to live in myself.
