1:1 Sets for Erwin Olaf & Bekleidung
1:1 Sets for Erwin Olaf and the parallel exhibition Bekleidung are the first part of a triptych that Het Nieuwe Instituut is devoting to the interior in the next few years. This part introduces visitors to two of the most original ideas on the culture of the interior: the idea of the interior as an expression of the individual, and the interior as the starting point of architecture. Both ideas go back to nineteenth-century Romanticism and have lost none of their topicality today.
In 1:1 Sets for Erwin Olaf, Het Nieuwe Instituut shows six actual three-dimensional sets that have been developed for Erwin Olaf by the décor designer Floris Vos. These sets create a world that exists solely by virtue of the photograph: they are made exclusively to bring a character to life. How is the visitor to judge them? Do these 1:1 models belong to the world of architecture or design? Or do these projections of a dreamed inner world belong to the realm of art?
The sets for Erwin Olaf by Floris Vos are combined with the exhibition Bekleidung. In the nineteenth century, this term – based on the distinction between a wall and a wall surface – referred to the delimitation of space as the primary purpose of architecture. But what does the term mean today if the artist views a decorative wall surface as a place for the imagination? Bekleidung presents artist's wallpaper selected by guest curator Erich Weiss and including designs by Sylvie Fleury, Damien Hirst, General Idea, Sarah Lucas, Andy Warhol and others.
Various lectures, debates, seminars and workshops and guided tours are being organised in connection with the exhibition, such as the Benno Premsela Lecture on 24 November. 1:1 Sets for Erwin Olaf will be accompanied by the publication of an essay.
The interior triptych will continue in Het Nieuwe Instituut in the next few years with 1:1 Period Rooms and 1:1 Showrooms. The former will delve into the interior as an educational model, while 1:1 Showrooms will focus on the interior as a seductive resource.