'A Search Behind Appearances': Hella Jongerius' shadow play at La Rinascente
- (opens in new tab)
- (opens in new tab)
- (opens in new tab)
- Sign up to our newsletter Newsletter

Thousands of exhibitions took place in Milan during Salone del Mobile as they do every year, presenting new launches and exciting concepts; but few are as analytical or highbrow as Hella Jongerius and Louise Schouwenberg’s window displays for La Rinascente, commissioned by the Serpentine Galleries.
Reflecting on the state of affairs in design and prompting a consideration of the meanings that hide behind a display, 'A Search Behind Appearances' proposes we move beyond commercial success, beyond style differences and beyond personal taste.
‘For decades design has been reduced to the production of mere style differences, a deceitful play of illusions, and an accompanying marketing verbiage,’ states Jongerius. 'With this [showcase] I don't want to say "this is good design, this is bad design", I wanted to address something in the making. It was a search that took half a year and a lot of debate. We came up with the idea of the shadow play, showing what is behind an object, the meaning behind an object and how to make it larger than it's physical presence.'
The collaboration between Jongerius and Schouwenberg picks up almost exactly where the pair left off last year with their equally cognitive project 'Beyond the New – A Search for Ideals in Design'. 'Can we give some answers to the questions [we posed last year]? How can we come to solutions or give them a physical approach?' says Jongerius of their starting point for this year's project.
Resulting in a range of visual metaphors, 'A Search Behind Appearances' took over the famous department store's eight Piazza Duomo-facing windows during the foremost furniture fair. The first and last windows were dedicated to explaining the project while the six central displays housed fabrics with complex woven patterns onto which shadows – generated by small letters and scale models of designer items – dance around, gradually transforming into letters, words and back to their original forms.
'It's not that I have solutions or answers,' she humbly adds, 'It's about starting up a discourse: what can we design in a world of plenty? And how can we do it responsibly?' Apt questions considering the current climate.
'A Search Behind Appearances' looks into what lies behind an object, and therefore design, through a play of light and shadows, bringing a physical manifestation to a conceptual theme
The installation took over the department store's eight Piazza Duomo-facing windows during Salone
‘For decades design has been reduced to the production of mere style differences, a deceitful play of illusions, and an accompanying marketing verbiage,’ states Jongerius
The collaboration between Jongerius and Schouwenberg picks up almost exactly where the pair left off last year with their equally cognitive project 'Beyond the New – A Search for Ideals in Design'
Each window display poses a question or presents an idea. Pictured: 'Innovation requires serendipity!'
'It's about starting up a discourse,' explains Jongerius, 'What can we design in a world of plenty? And how can we do it responsibly?'
Louise Schouwenberg and Hella Jongerius pictured together
INFORMATION
Photography courtesy of La Rinascente/Serpentine Gallery
-
Hermès perfume Un Jardin à Cythère is a cinematic exploration of a Greek garden
With Un Jardin à Cythère, Hermès perfumer Christine Nagel recreates the sensations of crunchy grass, watery pistachios, and windswept olive trees
By Mary Cleary • Published
-
Exploration, travel, adventure: the lowdown on Herno’s S/S 2023 collection
A closer look at Herno’s latest collection, which riffs on the brand’s heritage with a new fashion-focused lens
By Jack Moss • Published
-
Constance Guisset makes her Fuorisalone debut with a scenographic design party
Salone del Mobile 2023: ‘Surprise Party! Carte Blanche à Constance Guisset Studio’ (17 April – 13May 2023) is the first Milanese solo show of the French designer
By Maria Cristina Didero • Published
-
The best London art exhibitions: a guide for March 2023
Your guide to the best London art exhibitions, and those around the UK in March 2023, as chosen by the Wallpaper* arts desk
By Harriet Lloyd Smith • Published
-
Remote Antarctica research base now houses a striking new art installation
In Antarctica, Kyiv-based architecture studio Balbek Bureau has unveiled ‘Home. Memories’, a poignant art installation at the remote, penguin-inhabited Vernadsky Research Base
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith • Published
-
Ryoji Ikeda and Grönlund-Nisunen saturate Berlin gallery in sound, vision and visceral sensation
At Esther Schipper gallery Berlin, artists Ryoji Ikeda and Grönlund-Nisunen draw on the elemental forces of sound and light in a meditative and disorienting joint exhibition
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith • Published
-
Cecilia Vicuña’s ‘Brain Forest Quipu’ wins Best Art Installation in the 2023 Wallpaper* Design Awards
Brain Forest Quipu, Cecilia Vicuña's Hyundai Commission at Tate Modern, has been crowned 'Best Art Installation' in the 2023 Wallpaper* Design Awards
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith • Published
-
Michael Heizer’s Nevada ‘City’: the land art masterpiece that took 50 years to conceive
Michael Heizer’s City in the Nevada Desert (1972-2022) has been awarded ‘Best eighth wonder’ in the 2023 Wallpaper* design awards. We explore how this staggering example of land art came to be
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith • Published
-
Cerith Wyn Evans: ‘I love nothing more than neon in direct sunlight. It’s heartbreakingly beautiful’
Cerith Wyn Evans reflects on his largest show in the UK to date, at Mostyn, Wales – a multisensory, neon-charged fantasia of mind, body and language
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith • Published
-
The best 7 Christmas installations in London for art lovers
As London decks its halls for the festive season, explore our pick of the best Christmas installations for the art-, design- and fashion-minded
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith • Published
-
Rafael Lozano-Hemmer’s Pulse Topology in Miami is powered by heartbeats
Rafael Lozano-Hemmer brings heart and human connection to Miami Art Week 2022 with Pulse Topology, an interactive light installation at Superblue Miami in collaboration with BMW i
By Fiona Mahon • Last updated