HERBARIUM OF INTERIORS . CASE STUDY #2 . THE MILK BAR
by HEAD – Genève
- Curated by India Mahdavi, Coordinated by Youri Kravtchenko and Javier Fernandez Contreras
- Collaborators and other credits: Assistants: Manon Portera, Alice Proux / MAIA students: Blanca Algarra Sánchez, Kishan Asensio, Elsa Audouin, Sarah Bentivegna, Dany-Sarah Champion, Nina D’Elia, Robin Delerce, Azadeh Djavanrouh, Marina Ezerskaia, Lolita Gomez, Camila González Tapia, Elizaveta Krikun, Thibault Krauer, Nourbonou Missidenti, Filza Parmar, Patrycja Pawlik, Karen Pisoni, Louise Plassard, Léa Rime, Patris Sallaku, Marion Vergne, Nobuyoshi Yokota
- Website: www.head-geneve.ch
A herbarium is a collection of specimens. A specimen can be multi-format and lies somewhere between object, image and 1:1 model. When collected, it tends to become its own image.
Similarly, when catalogued and collected, contemporary interiors can be perceived as objects or images. Like herbarium specimens, interiors’ images can oscillate between fiction and representation.
For two years MAIA (Master of Arts in Interior Architecture) students have been developing their own Her-barium of Interiors, revisiting several iconic interiors under the curatorship of India Mahdavi.
Case study #2 is the Milk Bar inspired by the iconic Korova Milk Bar from Stanley Kubrick’s 1971 film A Clockwork Orange. Although the original space existed only as fiction, Kubrick’s cult film made the Korova Bar a place in its own right, to such an extent that it has been recreated in many cities around the world. Exploring the role of image culture in the construction of contemporary interiors, the project aims to redefine the boundaries of interior architecture and envision a new reality that bypasses traditional distin-ctions such as interior/exterior, public/private, original/copy or real/imaginary, with the aim of definitively confirming the role of interiors in the construction of contemporaneity.
Regularly listed among the best art and design schools in Europe, HEAD – Genève is located on a historic campus of four buildings classified as architectural heritage of the 20th century.
Welcoming nearly 800 students from 40 different nationalities, HEAD offers professional training (Bachelor and Master) in interior architecture, space design, fashion design, jewelry and accessories including a watchmaking chair, visual arts, illustration, comics , cinema, visual communication, media design, and develops innovative projects within its art and design research institute.
