XYZ inaugurates the programe of the Y section with projects by SDESIGNUNIT, a group of Korean designers who summarize their method in just three words: observe, define and simplify. DESIGN UNDESIGNED, the first exhibition by Y, is also an ideal declaration of intent, in particular the choice of focusing on the design processes rather than the finished product.

For SDESIGNUNIT, the process of design and creation begins with observing the existent, looking at daily life and collecting the concrete evidence of the needs that are at the root of design on the street. Objects that are self-built or modified “at home,” with recovered materials, to make them more functional or to meet a specific need that no designer has yet been able to: bicycles with an umbrella, stools with a chair back, rain-proof sockets and extension leads made from pieces of plastic bottles. SDESIGNUNIT begins with a documentary work that started three years ago, not to celebrate a folklore phenomenon, but to make this research the basis of the group’s manifesto: observing daily life to track down those embryonic ideas that were waiting for a designer to intervene: in other words, those objects that were “waiting to be designed”.

Besides the photo exhibition of these surprising, “undesigned” objects, other objects by the Korean group will also be put on display, achieving often amusing and surreal results.

SDESIGNUNIT / DESIGN UNDESIGNED
12th February 2009 - 22nd March 2009
Texts by Gaddo Morpurgo, Matteo Segna, Song Bong-kyu
Graphics by Tankboys

open Tuesday to Saturday, from 5PM to 8PM
visits by appointment are also available