Rough Cut: Design Takes a Sharp Edge

Nov 26, 2008–Oct 12, 2009

MoMA

Ralph Borland. Suited for Subversion Prototype. 2002. Nylon-reinforced PVC, padding, speaker, and pulse reader, 47 1/4 × 31 1/2 × 23 5/8″ (120 × 80 × 60 cm). Fund for the Twenty-First Century
  • MoMA, Floor 3, Exhibition Galleries The Philip Johnson Architecture and Design Galleries

Design is not always pretty. Sometimes it is blunt and aggressive, especially when it is meant to deliver a clear message or depart from tradition and express new ideas. Rough Cut presents a selection of bold designs from MoMA’s collection, ranging from striking posters to fierce chairs, and from incisive videos to vehicles designed for harsh terrains and unforgiving circumstances. Design is not always pretty—but when it is good, it is undeniably powerful, meaningful, and beautiful.

Organized by Paola Antonelli, Senior Curator, and Patricia Juncosa Vecchierini, Curatorial Assistant, Department of Architecture and Design.

Publication

  • Press release 2 pages

Artists

Installation images

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