Within the programming of the Mayrit biennial, in the Casa Banchel space, the exhibition could be seen: Pools of Swallowed Grounds. An exhibition where the borders between design and art disappear.
Only for a few days, at the end of July, it was possible to visit the Pools of Swallowed Grounds and there we could see the work of Clémentine Schmidt, Clara Schweers, Delphine Lejeune, Simon Brossard and Julie Villard (Villard x Brossard), Teresa Fernández-Pello and Alex Werth. Authors with a common denominator: their time at the Design Academy in Eindhoven and that is reflected in the way they conceive design. Science fiction, nature and technology, behind the organic forms that were presented in a beautiful and disturbing installation.
Upper images: 1) General view of the exhibition. 2) Detail of the piece P. Pulchra, a design by Alex Werth
Narratives explore human nature in Pools of Swallowed Grounds
“Common interest of its participants in science fiction as a design tool, with which to speculate on contemporary reality and perform self-examination. Through these narratives they explore human nature, its relationship with the environment or with certain cultural productions”, they explain in the room information.
Top image: Water Strider a design by Alex Werth
Intersection between biological life and technology
There we find pieces like Water Strider by designer Alex Werth. A robotic monster that can plant tulips or perform other botany-related tasks. Alex Werth is in the Department of Contextual Design at the Design Academy in Eindhoven, whose research focuses on the intersection between biological life and man-made technology.
Top image: True Organizing Principles, piece designed by Teresa Fernández-Pello
Connection between technology and spirituality
The work of Teresa Fernández-Pello from Madrid, True Organizing Principles, reflects on the accelerated technological progress and explores the connection between technology and spirituality. “Working with discarded electronic devices as basic materials. Deconstructing and rearranging their parts into geometric patterns, these devices are all reconnected together, hacked to perform repetitive and rhythmic actions with streams of data from different Internet sources. The emerging pieces look into today’s technologies as a reflection of our existential beliefs while also presenting spiritual and practical tools as technological devices themselves.” Theresa explains.
Top image: Lonely Toon III a design by the duo Simon Brossard and Julie Villard
Hybrid forms, with erotic, vegetable and animal reminiscences
The duo formed by Simon Brossard and Julie Villard, exhibit Lonely Toon III. A sculptural piece that reminds us of a piece of plastic from the human anatomy games. “Hybrid forms, with erotic, vegetal and animal reminiscences. As seductive as they are disturbing, they seem to be waiting to be embraced by a human, without us guessing the nature or the purpose”.
Top Image: Iced Flower –The Beauty of Survival (Red Toned Piece) by designer Delphine Lejeune
Ground Anemone or Frost Grass
Another of the pieces seen there was Iced Flower –The Beauty of Survival, by visual designer and materials researcher Delphine Lejeune. She works experimenting on 2D and 3D printed surfaces. One of her favorite topics of work is the reinterpretation of natural phenomena. In the Pools of Swallowed Grounds exhibition, he exhibits Iced Flower –The Beauty of Survival, a piece inspired by the ornamental plant species “Mesembryanthemum Crystallinum” in Spanish Anémona de Tierra or Hierba Escarchada, is an invasive species (with many properties) that releases bubbles of liquid that kill other plants that want to colonize its territory
Top image: P. Pulchra, a design by Alex Werth
The connection of design with nature is a line of work that many designers today. One of the possible triggers was the exhibition that Paola Antonelli and the Milan Triennale created in 2019: Broken Nature: Design Takes on Human Survival.
Pools of Swallowed Grounds: science fiction and nature in Mayrit