“Joris Laarman Lab: Design in the Digital Age” at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

Sun, Jun 24 - Sun, Sep 16  2018

From June 24th until September 16th, the exhibition “Joris Laarman Lab: Design in the Digital Age” will be on view at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX. Organized by the Groninger Museum, the Netherlands, the acclaimed exhibition made its U.S. debut at Cooper Hewitt and is now travelling to the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, GA, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX.

“Joris Laarman Lab: Design in the Digital Age”

From furniture generated by algorithms to designs brought to life by a robot, the work of experimental Dutch designer Joris Laarman challenges the boundaries of art, science, and technology. “Joris Laarman Lab: Design in the Digital Age” is the first U.S. museum survey to offer an in-depth look at the designer’s innovative oeuvre.

Showcasing furniture, design experiments, suites of drawings, and videos, the exhibition features a number of works from the MoFA, Houston, collection. Joris Laarman Lab explores the highly progressive qualities of Laarman’s work, both aesthetically and technologically. Along with his advanced production processes, which often involve digital fabrication methods and robotics, Laarman remains inspired by nature, giving equal attention to organic form and beauty.

Together with engineers, programmers, and craftspeople at the Joris Laarman Lab in Amsterdam, Laarman creates groundbreaking projects that reimagine traditional forms, many of which are one-of-a-kind and some of which are created only in very limited production. Joris Laarman Lab presents furniture designs and applied projects made throughout Laarman’s career alongside related videos, sketches, and renderings. The exhibition highlights Laarman’s major bodies of work, from projects he created as a student to his most-recent 3-D printing innovations.

About Joris Laarman Lab

Joris Laarman Lab is an experimental playground set up to study and shape the future. It tinkers with craftsmen, scientists, and engineers on the many new possibilities of upcoming technology and its consequential esthetics. The work is very diverse, from sculptural experimental furniture and innovative production processes to museum installations,  film, digital media, and workshops at universities around the world.

The lab started in 2004 by Joris Laarman and partner and filmmaker Anita Star. Joris attended the Design Academy Eindhoven in 1998 and graduated cum laude in 2003. The work of Joris Laarman Lab has been added to the permanent collections of many renowned international museums like the MoMA, Centre Pompidou and recently the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam. In 2011, Joris Laarman received an innovator of the year award by the wall street journal.