A series of objects has been recently acquired as part of the Museum’s new approach to collecting contemporary design and architecture, known as “Rapid Response Collecting”.
Rapid Response Collecting
An IKEA soft toy, a pair of Primark jeans, a 3D-printed gun and a piece of lift cable are just a few of the objects that are on display in a new gallery at the V&A this summer.
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- 16 July 2014
- London
This new strategy will help the V&A engage in a timely way with important events that shape, or are shaped by design, architecture and technology.
Regularly updated with new objects, it is the first gallery in the Museum that can be responsive to global events, technological advances, political changes or pop cultural phenomena that have an impact on art, design and architecture. The long-term result will be a permanent legacy of objects in the collection that will help future visitors and researchers to access material culture in the 21st century.
Objects in the opening display include a sample of KONE UltraRope, a new lightweight lift cable. This new material will enable lifts to travel 1000 metres in a single run, potentially transforming city skylines as buildings get slimmer and higher. The world’s first 3D printed gun, ‘the Liberator’, designed by Texan Law student Cody Wilson is also be on show. The gun upended discussions about the benefits of new manufacturing technologies and the unregulated sharing of designs online, and continues to make the news.
A pair of jeans from Primark, acquired soon after the Rana Plaza factory building in Dhaka, Bangladesh, collapsed, killing 1129 workers is displayed. The factory made clothes for a number of major western brands, including Primark and the jeans are an example of the fast fashion that characterises the Bangladeshi textiles industry, but also material evidence of the Rana Plaza disaster.
Corinna Gardner, V&A Curator of Contemporary Product Design and Curator of “Rapid Response Collecting”, said: “Much of the commentary in the media around the Rana Plaza disaster was about international labour laws, building control in Bangladesh and the responsibilities of global corporations and of consumers. But at its heart was a material thing: a pair of jeans that you can buy on any British high street. By bringing these designed objects into the Museum we can explore contemporary issues and events that can seem remote or abstract.”
Rapid Response Collecting
curated by Corinna Gardner
V&A’s Gallery 74
Victoria and Albert Museum
Cromwell Road, London