Exhibition | SO-IL Highlights Meissen’s Facets

Some of the Meissen porcelain figures on display in this exhibition survived the bombing of Dresden, but the exhibitors sought to protect the works from a different kind of allied assault—that of critics who typically write the figures off as “high-class kitsch.” The German porcelain brand Meissen’s sumptuous, narrative style of decoration puts it at odds with the minimal and conceptual traditions of Modernism. Kunsthal KAdE in Amersfoort, the Netherlands commissioned New York design office SO – IL (Solid Objectives – Idenburg Liu) to create an ideal contemporary setting in which to present the porcelain. Meissen X SO-IL.18th-Century Porcelain in Contemporary Architecture at KAdE (May 28 –August, 28 2011) challenged this prejudice and focused attention on the sculptural, artistic, and technical strengths of Meissen.

SO–IL’s approach to the problem was to create a new lens through which the sculpture would be viewed, designing 32 brightly-colored, prismatic display cases to house the Meissen. The geometric, acrylic cases upon white plinths acted as filters to present viewers with new ways of interacting with the historic works; what had been understood as objects became an experience. SO–IL describes their project this way, “The strategy triggers the visitor to literally ‘revisit’ their initial understanding of the objects in the exhibition. By designing the cabinets not to ‘display,’ but to actually ‘dissect’ the conventional viewing of the object, visitors are forced to redefine their relationship to the work.”

The figures appeared courtesy of the collection Von Klemperer, Meissen, and several private collections in England and Germany.

Above image: SO-IL’s prismatic cases house historic Meissen porcelain figures at Kunsthal KAdE in Amersfoort, the Netherlands in 2011. Image courtesy of the designers. Photograph by Iwan Baan.

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