REND — a Virtual Exhibition Curated by New York Based Studio TRNK
TRNK, the New York-based design curator and studio, has announced the opening of REND, a group exhibition that proposes a new vantage point on duality by engaging the diverse approaches of four designers whose work shares a common material language: metal and stone. Produced in collaboration with Berlin-based artist Hannes Lippert of Form & Rausch, the exhibition in a virtual fictitious and surrealist environment has been launched on May 13, 2020. Participating designers are Seoul-based artists Sisan Lee and FICT Studio, Mexico-based Disciplina Studio, and TRNK Collection, designed in-house by TRNK.
Through newly commissioned and limited-edition pieces, the exhibit interrogates common contrasts—hard and soft, rigid and flexible, warm, and distant. The works exhibited find the middle ground in the live edges of Disciplina Studio’s marble tables and the plush upholstery of TRNK Collection’s steel-based seating. Works by Sisan Lee and FICT Studio directly engage the weight and rigidity of their chosen mediums, presenting furniture that appears ineffably light yet layered.
“While each designer ultimately reached very different design languages, the chosen works shared similar elements of tension and contrast in materiality that I really wanted to investigate further,” said Tariq Dixon, founder of TRNK.
“I hope the show challenges viewers to examine designs with varied lenses - to perhaps borrow these designers’ perspectives to reconsider the objects and materials that they interact with every day.”
The exhibition also marks another chapter for TRNK to offer clients access to studio-made objects in a virtual environment. The classical architecture adds to the dreamy textural scenery against the manipulation of metal and stone.
“I like the feeling and characteristic of old thermal bathhouses or hammam,” said Lippert of Form & Rausch. “These places are fulfilled with peace and silence, which helps highlight the chosen art pieces in a clean, quiet surrounding.”
