Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec: Rêveries Urbaines

Following their exhibition “Album” in 2012, internationally renowned designers Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec return to the Vitra Campus in October 2016. The exhibition “Reveries Urbaines” at the Zaha Hadid Fire Station presents concepts for urban development, and is a wide-ranging study of possible development solutions for cities that may be imagined in very different urban settings. Like a large open sketchbook, the proposed solutions are presented as a gentle walk through models and animations. The exhibition is designed to be immersive and to bear the visitor away into different scenarios, with each model showcased as a chapter in an urban fiction.

“Reveries Urbaines” features Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec’s first projects that concentrate on public spaces. Films and research models are arranged around twenty proposals that re-invent certain motifs for urban spaces: vines, torches, parasols, a fountain, a kiosk etc. The aim is to give a new sense of magic to the places where we walk, meet, and talk, by the use of lines, harmony and transparency. The installation is not only a collection of abstract ideas but also points to some of the ongoing projects the brothers are developing for several cities around the world. A brochure with detailed information on the scenarios presented will accompany the exhibition.

Ronan Bouroullec describes the show as continuous research:

“The exhibition presents ongoing research: open and abundant research, a pragmatic reverie that is designed to exist in public spaces, perhaps in Weil. Some people may find the exhibition perturbing or surprising because, up until now, urban development has never been our subject. I like being in that position. Over the past 20 years, I think our best propositions were linked to subjects for which we were not particularly prepared“. 

Erwan Bouroullec speaks about their collaborative approach:

“The project was built from a certain distance, which is our normal way of working. In our work, no project is dedicated to a particular person or place. The exhibition brings together propositions for developing public spaces that could equally apply to Weil, Basel or Copenhagen. In fact, all of these principles have the advantage of containing an element of abstraction. They reply to a question that is not completely clear. It is in this vacuum that our propositions could be potentially re-imagined on site”. 

“Reveries Urbaines” was first shown at Les Champs Libres in Rennes last summer as part of a comprehensive retrospective. This is Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec’s second exhibition at the Vitra Campus after »Album«.