London’s Design Museum announces 2017 exhibition programme

The Design museum has announced the full exhibition programme for its opening year at its new location in west London. The landmark exhibition for 2017 is titled California and will explore the influence of the state on global design.

“‘Designed in California’ is the new ‘Made in Italy’. While California’s mid-century modernism is well documented, this is the first exhibition to examine the state’s current global reach,” says the museum. The exhibition will follow the culture of California taking in everything from LSD to skateboards and iPhones. “This ambitious survey brings together political posters, personal computers and self-driving cars but also looks beyond hardware to explore how user interface designers in the Bay Area are shaping some of our most common daily experiences. The exhibition reveals how this culture of design and technology has made us all Californians.”

Three other key exhibitions will explore our ageing population, colour and the architecture of the Russian avant-garde. Imagine Moscow; Architecture, Propaganda, Revolution will mark the centenary of the Russian revolution. It will explore “Moscow as it was imagined by a bold new generation of architects and designers in the 1920s and early 1930s. Drawing on rarely seen material, Imagine Moscow presents an idealistic vision of the Soviet capital that was never realised.” New OLD:Designing for Our Future Selves that opens in January will run for the entire of 2017. “As our population ages rapidly, the exhibition looks at how design can help people lead fuller, healthier and more rewarding lives in an ageing society, looking at such themes as home, working, community, identity and mobility,” says the museum. In June, Hella Jongerius presents Breathing Colour; an installation-based exhibition that takes a deeper look at the way colour behaves, exploring shapes, materials, shadows and reflections.

For more information click here