This fall, the High Museum of Art will present “Virgil Abloh: ‘Figures of Speech’” (Nov. 12, 2019–March 8, 2020), the first museum exhibition devoted to the work of the modern, genre-bending artist and designer who became creative director of Louis Vuitton’s menswear line in 2018.

Organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, where it debuted in June, the exhibition focuses on Abloh’s creative process, collaborative work and pioneering discipline, which ranges across media and connects visual artists, musicians, graphic designers, fashion designers and architects. Virgil Abloh teamed up with AMO’s director Samir Bantal to develop the creative direction and narrative of the exhibition. Together with Virgil, AMO developed a concept along the different worlds Virgil moves in: Architecture, Fashion, Design, Music and Art. The works on view will offer an in-depth look at the defining highlights of Abloh’s career, including his recent designs for the Louis Vuitton menswear collection, video documentation of his most iconic fashion shows and his distinctive furniture and graphic design work.

“Abloh is an inspiring creative force who defies often traditional classifications and boundaries while remaining committed to his distinctive vision. When the opportunity came to present his work, we could not say no,” said Rand Suffolk, Nancy and Holcombe T. Green, Jr., director of the High. “Atlanta’s cultural community personifies style, trend-setting and pushing the limits of traditional design. We know Abloh’s work will resonate with our audience, just as it has been celebrated worldwide.”

Installation view. Courtesy of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago.

Exhibition Catalogue

The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated 512-page monograph. For Abloh, the museum catalogue is another opportunity to “question everything.” The publication, produced in collaboration with the artist himself, explores a decade of his creative output in a two-books-in-one format. The catalogue section offers an overview of Abloh’s multi-hyphenate work by exhibition curator Michael Darling and features essays and interviews with key voices in art, fashion, design and architecture, including Samir Bantal and Rem Koolhaas.

About Samir Bantal

Samir Bantal is the Director of AMO, the research and design studio of OMA, a leading international practice in architecture and urbanism. With AMO, Samir is currently working on 3 exhibitions. In Qatar, AMO explores the role of modern architecture in the development of the city of Doha, opening March 2019. Together with the Harvard School of Design, Samir leads Countryside, a comprehensive research project that investigates the interaction between the city and the countryside, which will culminate in an exhibition in the Guggenheim in New York early 2020. Lastly, ‘Figures of Speech’ will show at the MCA Chicago in June 2019. The design of the exhibition, a retrospective on the work of renown designer Virgil Abloh, is a collaboration between Samir and Virgil Abloh.

Samir has lead a number of design projects ranging from a new phone for Vodafone and a new retail concept for Korean car brand Genesis, to a high-rise mixed use tower in Casablanca. Samir was involved in the Image of Europe, an exhibition on the history and meaning of the European Union, including the rebranding the European flag and has contributed on publications, such as Project Japan and Al Manakh I.

Installation view. Courtesy of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago.

About AMO

AMO is the research, branding and publication studio of the architectural practice, Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA), which was founded in London in 1975 by Rem Koolhaas and others and relocated to Rotterdam in 1978. AMO was established in 1999 and is conceived as the mirror image of OMA, operating as a think tank within and independently of the firm. It is directed by Reinier de Graaf alongside Koolhaas and aims at expanding architectural production towards broader issues around culture, identity and organisation. It also enables the practice to interrogate architectural production and research without waiting for commissions and without the need to build anything.

Conceived in response to a number of building commissions, including three stores for Prada at a time when the company was undergoing a complete rebrand, the headquarters of Universal Studios which during the design underwent three takeovers and Schiphol Ariport which whilst having commissioned a new building in the Netherlands was considering a move to an island in the North Sea. For OMA, it was clear that by the time these building commissions would be built they would already be out of date. They therefore required another way of operating architecturally which could keep up with the pace of change in private enterprise. AMO was thus established to provide strategic input expanding the remit of architecture into the realm of the virtual including media, fashion, communication and information; they have since completed a number of diverse projects, including a proposal for a new EU flag,Volume Magazine, a publication project in collaboration with Archis and C-Lab of Columbia University, whilst also working alongside OMA on their building projects. It also brings together Koolhaas’ teaching and research at the Harvard Design School Project on the City with the rest of the practice’s work.

About OMA

Rem Koolhaas (Rotterdam, 1944) founded OMA in 1975 together with Elia and Zoe Zenghelis and Madelon Vriesendorp. He graduated from the Architectural Association in London and in 1978 published Delirious New York: A Retroactive Manifesto for Manhattan. In 1995, his book S,M,L,XL summarized the work of OMA in “a novel about architecture”. He co-heads the work of both OMA and AMO, the research branch of OMA, operating in areas beyond the realm of architecture. His built work includes the Qatar National Library and the Qatar Foundation Headquarters (2018), Fondation Galeries Lafayette in Paris (2018), Fondazione Prada in Milan (2015/2018), Garage Museum of Contemporary Art in Moscow (2015), the headquarters for China Central Television (CCTV) in Beijing (2012), Casa da Musica in Porto (2005), Seattle Central Library (2004), and the Netherlands Embassy in Berlin (2003). Current projects include the Taipei Performing Arts Centre, a new building for Axel Springer in Berlin, and the Factory in Manchester. Koolhaas directed the 2014 Venice Architecture Biennale, is a professor at Harvard University, and is preparing a major exhibition for the Guggenheim museum to open in 2019 entitled Countryside: Future of the World.

Installation view. Courtesy of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago.

About the High Museum of Art

Located in the heart of Atlanta, Georgia, the High Museum of Art connects with audiences from across the Southeast and around the world through its distinguished collection, dynamic schedule of special exhibitions and engaging community-focused programs. Housed within facilities designed by Pritzker Prize–winning architects Richard Meier and Renzo Piano, the High features a collection of more than 17,000 works of art, including an extensive anthology of 19th- and 20th-century American fine and decorative arts; major holdings of photography and folk and self-taught work, especially that of artists from the American South; burgeoning collections of modern and contemporary art, including paintings, sculpture, new media and design; a growing collection of African art, with work dating from pre-history through the present; and significant holdings of European paintings and works on paper. The High is dedicated to reflecting the diversity of its communities and offering a variety of exhibitions and educational programs that engage visitors with the world of art, the lives of artists and the creative process. For more information about the High, visit www.high.org.