BOFFO Building Fashion 2011.
On the weekend I had the opportunity to check out the BOFFO exhibit in SoHo featuring a collaboration between Los Angelas-based jewelry designer, Irene Neuwirth, and French architect, Marc Fornes/Theverymany. Upon entry to the relatively small room, I was faced with a massive modular sculpture that connected many metal pieces with what I later found out was over 50,000 rivets. As an observer, I was compelled to walk around and view the display from every angle, each time discovering new shapes and perspectives within the piece. Every angle was carefully considered and all were beautiful. The jewelry was displayed within glass domes that seemed to grow from out of the metal and within hung from twigs that enforced the sculpture’s organic quality. This was further emphasized by a wall of greenery, though in my opinion the room could have done without. After discussing the project with the attendant at the show and reading the accompanying literature, I found out that Marc Fornes is at the forefront of development of computational protocols and refers to his work as “precise indetermination” and “progressive geometry” that seeks “unconventional futures”. Irene Neuwirth states her main inspiration is the ocean and that its “purity, power and colors are all key elements at the origin of [her] designs.” Overall, the exhbition was beautiful, though I do think that the display overshadowed the jewelry. Nonetheless, it was a triumph in merging the fashion arts with industrial methods and design. The exhibit runs from September 29th to October 12th.
