"The Work of Charles and Ray Eames: A Legacy of Invention"
2003-01-22 until 2003-05-04
Artium - Basque Museum of Contemporary Art
Vitoria-Gasteiz, , ES Spain

The work of Charles and Ray Eames: a legacy of invention will open the 2003 programme of "major exhibitions" in ARTIUM of Alava. This is the first posthumous retrospective of one of the most influential couples of the 20th century for their contributions to the fields of design, architecture, culture and scientific dissemination. The exhibition presents some of the Eameses most representative projects, from the well known and useful models of chairs to programmes related to complex systems of human perception and communication.

The work of Charles and Ray Eames exhibition has been organized by the Washington DC Library of Congress and the Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein, Germany. The exhibition has been shown in museums and art centres around Europe and America and it may only be seen in Spain in ARTIUM of Alava, sponsored by the Basque Government Department of Housing and Social Affairs and the Basque Navarre Association of Architects.

Charles and Ray Eames are situated among the most important American designers of the 20th century, well known for their contribution to architecture, furniture design, industrial design and photography. The core of their philosophy as designers is their desire to resolve the human being’s basic necessities regarding security, comfort and knowledge: how to produce inexpensive but high quality furniture; how to achieve accessible habitable or work spaces whilst being well designed at the same time; how to help people to grasp the beauty in daily life; how to help the Americans and other cultures to get to know each other; and how to make essential scientific principles accessible to amateurs.

The work of Charles and Ray Eames allows their responses to these challenges to be illustrated. The exhibition is organized in five categories which show the broad spectrum of the Eameses interests: furniture (fruit of 40 years of experimentation in accessible and quality designs); space (the Eameses architectural projects); beauty (films and slide shows on the beauty of everyday objects); culture (exhibitions, films and publications); and science (films, books and exhibitions to spread new technologies and their potential).

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