Denmark Journal: Designmuseum Denmark

photo: FLevy

At the beginning of "The Future is Present" show at Copenhagen's Museum of Design, the environmentalist David Suzuki is quoted thusly: “The future doesn’t exist. The only thing that exists is now and our memory of what happened. But because we invented the idea of a future, we’re the only animal that realized we can affect the future by what we do today.“ There are plenty of “Wonder Boxes”which were the displays of ornamental objects in royal palaces, plenty of the use of repetitive patterns in fabric design and, of course, a plethora of chairs. Danish modern is proudly distinguished from international modernism but a common theme running through most of the current exhibits is globalism, with design seen as a way of thinking and state of mind. “The functionalist doctrine was in fact based on contemporary non-figurative abstract art rather than functions” is a quote attributed to Philip Johnson and the architectural historian Henry-Russell Hitchcock. It’s an eye opener if you're someone who has always discountenanced the glass and steel boxes which rise out of Gotham. 

read the Kirkus review of The Kafka Studies Department by Francis Levy

and also read Joan Baum's NPR review of The Kafka Studies Department