
Shaping Space: 17 Screens by Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec
Words by Kiriakos Spirou
Location
Paris-based designers and brothers Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec have created a series of experimental yet highly elegant screens for their current solo exhibition at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art. The result of a research project that involved combining a plethora of materials and seeking inspiration in nature, the 17 designs that are part of the exhibition demonstrate different approaches and reinterpretations of the dividing screen, both as an object and a concept. All of these sculptural creations were designed specially for the exhibition, and assembled using fine materials such as anodised aluminium, ceramic and silk, but also less noble resources such as woven plastic threads and found wooden twigs; these materials were then given the form of long bars or cylinders joined together using custom-made joints and hanging systems.

Photo © Studio Bouroullec.

Detail of Screen #1 (chestnut wood and 3D printed PLA). Photo © Studio Bouroullec.

In the foreground: Screen #1 (chestnut wood and 3D-printed PLA). Photo © Studio Bouroullec.
The Bouroullec brothers’ experience and seasoned creative spirit shine throughout the exhibition, not only through the inventive use of materials and the technical confidence seen in each of the pieces, but also in the designs’ conceptual aspect: since all of these screens are transparent and light, even fragile, in their construction, they defeat their original purpose as objects that passively separate space or hide things from view, and instead become active spatial gestures that shape the flow of movement, light and colour around them.

Front: Screen #7 (anodised aluminium and cable). Middle: Screen #14 (dyed silk). Back: Screen #13 (enamelled ceramic).Photo © Studio Bouroullec.

Detail of Screen #15 (enamelled ceramic, anodised aluminium, elastic band and cable). Photo © Studio Bouroullec.

Front: Screen #7 (anodised aluminium and cable). Back: Screen #11 (jaquard loom: metallic polyester, lurex, polyester, viscose). Photo © Studio Bouroullec.

Screen #11 (jaquard loom: metallic polyester, lurex, polyester, viscose). Photo © Studio Bouroullec.

Screen #8 (anodised aluminium, cord, cable). Photo © Studio Bouroullec.

Screen #6 (embroidered guipure polyester). Photo © Studio Bouroullec.

Photo © Studio Bouroullec.

Screen #5 (embroidered polyester). Photo © Studio Bouroullec.

Screen #16 (enamelled ceramic, cable). Photo © Studio Bouroullec.

Photo © Studio Bouroullec.

Left: Screen #10 (enamelled ceramic, anodised aluminium, elastic band, cord). Right: Screen #4 (enamelled ceramic, elastic band, cord). Photo © Studio Bouroullec.

Detail of Screen #2 (anodised aluminium, silk ribbon, cable). Photo © Studio Bouroullec.

Detail of Screen #12 (enamelled ceramic, cable). Photo © Studio Bouroullec.

Screen #12 (enamelled ceramic, cable). Photo © Studio Bouroullec.

Front: Screen #10 (anodised aluminium, enamelled ceramic, elastic band, cord). Back: Screen #4 (enamelled ceramic, elastic band, cable). Photo © Studio Bouroullec.