Between 16 May and 11 June there will be an opportunity to see a unique exhibition of PVC design in Denmark. The exhibition has been put together by the Italian exhibition designer, Riccardo Giovanetti, and it is the result of an unusual partnership between ID-Forum, the Aarhus School of Architecture and the PVC Information Council Denmark. The exhibition will be at Tobaksgården in Horsens. It will open on 16 May at 11.00 am.
 
 
PVC – a creative world
 
The basic idea behind the exhibition is to take the visitor on a sort of voyage through the various characteristics of PVC – a metamorphic material, a sort of chameleon which can take on a multitude of expressions, colours, shapes and images.
 
PVC is a flexible material; able to adapt to very different situations and perform a wide variety of functions. With time, the material has therefore attracted enormous interest from the design world. Designers from throughout the globe are constantly experimenting with new ways of using the material, and in numerous different fields. Therefore, PVC has become the material of choice for many leading international designers when they are to develop creative items; products which, apart from being beautiful and functional, are also evocative and stimulate the senses of those who use them.
 
PVC is far from fully researched, and its applications have yet to be fully exploited. It is an important resource which constantly inspires development of innovative, easily recognisable objects. The purpose of the exhibition is to take the visitor by the hand on a fantastic voyage through the many manifestations of the material. With this in mind, the exhibition has organised as a number of stands; each revealing a new side of the material. This "revelation" takes its point of departure in a number of design objects developed by international designers from throughout the world. The designers come from different cultures and thus interpret the material is vastly different and creative ways.
 
The design objects on display at the exhibition include items produced in limited numbers as well as industrial products for mass production. This emphasises the technical flexibility characterised by PVC which can be adapted to both large and small production runs.
 
The arrangement of the exhibition is itself a discrete tribute to PVC; the “star” of the exhibition. A number of PVC pipes, usually used to transport water, form a colonnade confining a number of circular environments. In this way the space becomes enormously expressive – a labyrinth of constructions in neutral colours which act as the perfect stage for the exhibits
 
 
PVC puts Danish design students through their paces
 
Not only international and Danish designs by established designers will be on display at the PVC exhibition. Designs by Danish design students will also be on show.
 
In 2005 the PVC Information Council started a partnership project with the Aarhus School of Architecture with a view to introducing PVC to young design students. The project was organised as a study trip, during which twenty design students visited PVC companies and had an insight into the material and various processing technologies. After this, the students were given a free rein to create a design object in PVC. The result was twenty vastly different sketches. All the drawings are on display at the exhibition. Many of the Danish students’ designs awoke so much interest that they are being produced as prototypes and these will also be shown at the exhibition.
 
Birgitte Geert Jensen, a senior lecturer at the School of Architecture’s Department of Design, is extremely excited about the inventiveness and enthusiasm demonstrated by the students and she says that, ”previously, teaching in plastics at the Aarhus School of Architecture was only theoretical for the design course, but now it has become concrete, and there is no doubt that the students consider this very exciting”.
 
The Director of the PVC Information Council, Ole Grøndahl Hansen, says that the basis for the partnership with the School of Architecture was to tell Danish plastics companies that designers have some very creative skills which companies should be better at exploiting than they are at present. ”We are always hearing that design will be an important factor in the survival of the West in a globalised society. We want to show that in the hands of a designer, PVC can provide exciting results.”
 
Jakob Rothborg, project manager from ID-Forum is also enthusiastic about the project. “Over the past 15 years, ID-Forum has been the natural hub for contact between enterprises and industrial designers. Therefore it is a matter of course for us to be part of this event. The exhibition is very much about bringing together companies and designers in the use of a material which opens opportunities for innovation, flexibility and growth”.
 
The sculptor Kristian Dahlgård makes visible the invisible
 
Besides using PVC pipes to build up the exhibition at Tobaksgården, they will also be on display in another and different manner.
 
Today more than half of the pipes in the Danish water supply grid are made of PVC. The water we drink and use in any other way, and the waste water we subsequently discharge is transported through PVC pipes. Characteristic for these pipe systems is that they are usually hidden. We do not see them. Therefore we are generally unaware that PVC plays an important role in our lives.
 
In order to make PVC pipes more visible we decided to call in the help of art. We wanted to show PVC pipes in an artistic manner. In order to find an artist to carry out the task, the PVC Information Council involved one of Denmark’s leading art experts, the gallerist Jacob Asbæk. After discussions with Jacob Asbæk, the choice fell on the sculptor Kristian Dahlgård. Kristian Dahlgård is one of Denmark’s most interesting and unpredictable sculptors, and since he had previously worked with materials not normally associated with sculpture, it was evident that he should be asked to create a sculpture using PVC pipes as the primary material.
 
Kristian Dahlgård decided to create a large fountain so that both the pipes and water are made visible. The PVC fountain has been sponsored by Nordisk Wavin A/S, and Kristian Dahlgård created it in cooperation with selected employees from Nordisk Wavin’s workshop in Hammel. The PVC fountain will be displayed in an open public space in the centre of Horsens for the period of the exhibition, and it will be unveiled on the opening day of the PVC exhibition on 16 May at 11.00 am. The fountain will be unveiled by the managing director of Nordisk Wavin, Ole Unfelt Jensen. The artist will also be present.
 
See also: http://www.pvcdesign.org/Pagine/events-horsens.htm