Milan's "Design Vertigo" fools the eye

Felice Varini’s anamorphic perspective painting
Beta Tank's Beta Space


For the 2010 Design Fair in Milan, Design Miami and Fendi collaborated to create an installation called "Design Vertigo" at Spazio Fendi. A space usually used for models to parade up and down the runway, Spazio Fendi has been transformed into a transgressive design theater filled with design that calls upon the viewer to digest the visual spectacle.

Rather than an intriguing use of materials in the live-demo "Craft Punk" that was showcased last year, the designs created this year rely upon perspectives that are unnatural to the eye and put a new meaning behind "functionless art." The painting above by Felice Varini can only been logically viewed when seen from a specific vantage point.

Lacking logic but focusing on innovations, the Berlin artists group Beta Tank created a black and white installation with geometric patterns that create optical allusions. The floors and walls are accompanied by large bouncy balls that roll throughout the space.

Functionless art has been berated before and it will continue to be but rAndom International's wall installation only becomes an optical challenge when the viewers movement throughout the space inflicts it. This wall installation is in the dark with diagonal light that moves in a vertical angle up the wall. The wall is composed of light weight rectangular panels hung form the ceiling that move slightly as the crowds pass by.

This year's artists set out to create a show that encourages a deeper understanding of the human body and our perception. I think this show is powerful in the sense that it is only as interesting as the person's experience within the space. These are not designs that a trend setter will deem fashionable and we will suddenly re-experience on every street corner and magazine, this is design that capitalizes on site specificity and ideology.