From the solo furniture shows of Jomo Tariku, Chris Schank and Norman Teague to an exhibition imagining the ramifications of cities on a planetary scale, Dezeen’s US editor Ben Dreith selects worthwhile exhibitions from the United States.
From the statewide PST Art fair in California to trade shows such as BDNY in New York, there were a variety of exhibitions in the design and architecture community in November.
The exhibitions below range in scale and content, from speculative architecture exhibitions to full-scale retrospectives of work by furniture designers.
While the events, as always, clustered around the design hubs of New York and Los Angeles, a few noteworthy exhibitions showcased work outside of the core, with inclusions from Philadelphia and Detroit.
Beyond the shows listed here, Dezeen took a closer look at several exhibitions, including a showcase of columns that challenge architectural history by Germane Barnes, the expansive Smithsonian Design Triennial at the Cooper Hewitt, and a showcase of the intersection of generative video game design and furniture.
Read on for 10 ten stand-out shows across the country and for more worldwide exhibitions visit Dezeen Events Guide.
Jomo Tariku: Juxtaposed at Wexler Gallery, Philadelphia
Ethiopian-American designer Jomo Tariku launched his first-ever solo exhibition showcasing new works that showcase the designer’s process over his thirty-year career.
The pieces, informed by the designer’s heritage, include Tariku’s well-known wood works but also explorations into new materials such as metal and plastic, such as the acrylic Birth Chair. Tariku said he wanted to develop “a new creative language based on Black culture” for the exhibition.
10 October to 20 December 2024
Views of Planet City at SCI-Arc and Pacific Design Center, Los Angeles
Derived from architect and film director Liam Young’s ongoing work, this PST Art exhibition featured works based around a speculative future where the population of the world has risen beyond 10 billion people.
The multi-media project, spread over two venues in Los Angeles, featured work by multiple artists depicting future urban and natural landscapes, and speculative processes such as scavenging. Local studio Oficina.LA carried out the immersive exhibition design.
13 September 2024 to 16 February 2025
Materialized Space: The Architecture of Paul Rudolph at the Met, New York
Curated by Abraham Thomas, the exhibition showcased over 80 works and objects by American architect Paul Rudolph and was the first major showcase of 20th-century architecture at the storied New York museum in more than 50 years.
Focusing on Rudolph’s speculative work and models, the exhibition followed the stages of the architect’s career. “Rudolph’s intricate, visionary drawings and dramatic completed buildings represent a singular voice within the crowded, variable terrain of architectural late modernism,” said Thomas.
30 September 2024 to 16 March 2025
Colorama: Tom Loeser & Wendy Maruyama at Superhouse, New York
Gallerist Stephen Markos of Superhouse featured the work of two educators and designers associated with the Studio Craft movement, who have “transformed American fine art furniture” since they first came onto the scene in the early 1980s.
Loeser presented a series of inventive wood pieces, some re-releases of old designs, including seating meant to explore “social dynamics”, while Maruyama presented wall pieces with intricate wood mechanisms and a massive, sculptural work explore “femininity and health.
14 November to 11 January 2025
Intro/LA at Small Office, Los Angeles
The 11th edition of Intro/LA featured works by Los Angeles designers in an industrial space, laid out in groupings separated by semi-transparent green fabric that also acted as a backdrop.
Meant to give an idea of the current output of local designers, it featured furniture and objects by Adi Goodrich, Waka Waka, Willett, and many more.
25 October to 30 November 2024
Norman Teague: Jam Sessions at MoMA, New York
The first of an ongoing series where designers highlight work from the institution’s collection, Teague’s exhibition paired design objects with AI renderings based on the MoMA’s collections.
According to Teague, the exercise was meant to show how new tools can be used to “embrace Black Imagination” and “to continually push beyond spaces of marginalization”.
28 October 2024 to 11 May 2025
In Praise of Shadows at Jacqueline Sullivan Gallery, New York
Named after the essay by Japanese author Jun’ichiro Tanizaki, the exhibition featured work by contemporary and historical designers, spread between lush red curtains.
A mobile by Ingo Maurer set the tone of the space, at the entrance, while contemporary designs by Bruno Grizzo, Claudia Girbau Pina, and Madeline Coven were arranged in a way that prioritised shadows throughout the loft space.
14 November 2024 to 11 January 2025
Chris Schanck: A Surreality at MOCAD, Detroit
Detroit-based designer Chris Schanck looked back at his career in an exhibition that was part of a series exploring the last century of surrealist art.
The sculptural furniture pieces have sci-fi elements and many were made with recycled metals, fabricated at the designer’s massive industrial workspace in the city. “The MOCAD exhibition will position Detroit as Schanck’s dreamscape home,” said the museum.
22 November 2024 to 23 February 2025
Material Acts: Experimentation in Architecture and Design at Craft Contemporary, Los Angeles
Also part of PST Art, this exhibition presented 20 contemporary designers who work in innovative material processes such as biomaterials and 3D-printed adobe.
It forefronted the processes of material creation and had the state goal of recentering “human actors and systems in the event of the transformation of material, reminding us that materials are not inert objects, but active”.
28 September 2024 to 5 January 2025
Jeremy Anderson for Gallery Fumi at Salon Art & Design, New York
Gallery Fumi showcased the work of local designer Jeremy Anderson for this year’s edition of Salon Art & Design, a fair held in a former armoury in the Upper East Side.
Anderson created a series of playful ceramic lighting pieces with geometric colouration that were displayed against the black-painted backdrop of the booth, at the front of the expansive show.
7 November to 11 November 2024
