A project about the aesthetic of safety, organized by De Vleeshal and Guus Beumer in collaboration with the Dutch Institute for Architecture (NAi) and the Premsela foundation for Dutch design.
With contributions by: goodwill, Marjo Kranenborg, Herman Verkerk, Lucas Verweij and Tobias Woldendorp. And lectures by: Aaron Betsky, Dingeman Kuilman, Mark Wigley and Anna Tilroe.
Photo(s): Leo van Kampen
Safety has an aesthetic all of its own. The project Safe Haven… or the aesthetic of safety was an attempt to illuminate our desires & fears with regard to safety by examining the aesthetic employed. Safe Haven… or the aesthetic of safety consisted of three components.
Central to Safe Haven… or the aesthetic of safety was the same titled exhibition at De Vleeshal. This exhibition consisted of two parts.
The first part of the exhibition endeavoured to provide a historical context for the present aesthetic of safety through a number of ‘settings’. The focus of these settings was not so much on any one style or designer, but rather on the development of the aesthetic aspect – and in particular the use of materials: from the velour covered interior of the nineteenth century to the steel and glass of the 1930`s.
The second part was a 1:1 model of an inside and an outside space. This model formed an illustration of how the aesthetic of safety has led to a radical transparency of materials, resulting in the increasing blending of inside and outside spaces.
The model was designed by Herman Verkerk, architect and one of the founders of sloom.org. Marjo Kranenborg, styling director on various interior design magazines and television programmes, created the settings.
The second component of Safe Haven… or the aesthetic of safety was a coach trip from Rotterdam to Middelburg, during which various projects exemplifying the current view on safety were visited. This trip was set out in co-operation with Tobias Woldendorp, advisor to the DSP-group on socially safe design. He was also one of the tour guides.
The coach trip commenced with a lecture by Aaron Betsky, director of the Dutch Institute for Architecture (NAi). Betsky addressed the banality of safety and of the codification of security. US resident Mark Wigley, author of (among others) White Walls, Designer Dresses, examined the current aesthetic of safety and the philosophical and societal background to the exhibition.
The third and last part of Safe Haven… or the aesthetic of safety was a lecture by Anna Tilroe at De Vleeshal. Tilroe, art critic and author of (among others) the collection of essays Het Blinkende stof, op zoek naar een nieuw visioen, addressed the feelings of fear, longing and want that bring the issue of safety into the realm of art and culture. Tilroe’s lecture was followed by a public debate between the participants in the project, chaired by Lucas Verweij. Verweij is one of the founders of Schie 2.0 and is domain keeper at Premsela, foundation for Dutch design.
Thanks to: Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam; Historisch Museum, Rotterdam; MPK, Leiden; Pilkington and the University Archives, Utrecht.
