Celebrated and up-and-coming designers alike bring these multiple influences into the spotlight, placing in the public sphere what has hitherto remained private. All these designers force us to question our value judgements on erotic practices by presenting unexpectedly luxurious items, worked to the highest standards of craftsmanship in leather, glass and precious metals.

CARTES BLANCHES À TROIS DESIGNERS
Three rooms of the mudac have been given over to three important designers, who have each been invited to create a unique installation for the exhibition.

MARK WOODS, DESIGNER
Mark Woods’ objects are a fascinating exploration of the concept of transgression. Unambiguously referencing the world of erotica, their softness, delicacy and beauty distance them from their potential function. They play on concepts borrowed from feminism, masculinity, sexuality and even religion, the attractiveness of their execution and the nobility of their materials – ebony, silver, lace, velvet – capturing the senses of the onlooker. The bespoke boxes and containers specially designed to house these marvellous objects become veritable “Cabinets of curiosities” that demand only to be opened.

NIKA ZUPANC, DESIGNER
Nika Zupanc, a young Slovenian designer, offers a unique vision of desire in the world of design. The furniture she creates pushes aesthetic limits and suggests a new visual code that reinterprets pre-existing or predefined mean­ings, challenging us to look at them in a new way. She playfully revisits feminine archetypes, combining glamour with a caustic wit, as in the Mrs Dalloway hotplate in the shape of a powder compact, or the suite entitled Self-discipline comprising a lamp, desk, chair and wardrobe that elegantly subvert the codes of S&M.
As well as running her own label, La Femme et la Maison, which she created on graduating from the Ljubljana Academy of Fine Arts and Design, Nika Zupanc also works with contemporary design houses such as Moooi and Moroso. Her works have appeared in prestigious publications including Wallpaper, the New York Times, AD, Elle, Design Week and Desire

CATALOGUE
The ambition of Nirvana is to examine the aesthetics of eroticism and to map its influence on design, fashion and contemporary art, avoiding the clichéd responses that it frequently attracts. Bringing together this corpus of work has enabled us to identify eloquent pieces that bear witness to the astonishing creativity of their designers. Whether disturbing or seductive, the clothing, jewellery, accessories and furniture displayed and studied in the various sec­tions of the book reveal the richness of the forms referenced and the erudition of those who have conceived them.
It was therefore important to us that the catalogue produced to accompany this major exhibition at the mudac should be not just a glossy coffee-table book, but also a serious work of research. The works of more than 100 international artists and designers are reproduced and studied through the prism of analyses by design specialists, art historians, sociologists and fashion historians, who highlight the way they transcend categorisation.
Authors of the catalogue:
 
Texts by Marco Costantini (curator, art historian, Lausanne), Susanna Kumschick (ethnologue, vice-directrice/con­servatrice, Gewerbemuseum, Winterthour), Denyse Beaulieu (journalist, Paris), Joel Vacheron (sociologist, Lon­don), and Luca Marchetti (semiologist, Geneva/Paris)
Interviews with Betony Vernon, Mark Woods and Nika Zupanc.
Maison Martin Margiela, Epaulettes en perruque, 2009, acrylique, synthétique
« Défilé », Epaulettes perruques
Abdi Abdelkader, Eureka, 2007, DACRYL ®8MUDAC MUSSÉE DE DESIGN ET

D’ARTS APPLIQUÉS CONTEMPORAINS
Place de la cathédrale 6
CH-1005 Lausanne
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