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Tabanlıoğlu Architects revives Madonna in a Fur Coat novel in the London Design Festival

United Kingdom Architecture News - Aug 18, 2016 - 14:43   18612 views

Tabanlıoğlu Architects revives Madonna in a Fur Coat novel in the London Design Festival

Multiple WA Award winner Turkish architecture office Tabanlıoğlu Architects will be present at the London Design Festival this year, on September 17-25, 2016. Their stand will be featured at the Victoria and Albert Museum (Gallery 112), with a theme called BELOVED. Early preview of the installation will be held on September 16, 2016. 

“Once you can look beyond the surface, the inner life of everyone is fascinating. Beloved, inspired by reading Madonna in a Fur Coat, invites you to explore the world of novel through art and design.” states their invitation below.

Tabanlıoğlu Architects revives Madonna in a Fur Coat novel in the London Design Festival

Madonna in a Fur Coat is one of the greatest novels in Turkish literature,” says Murat Tabanlıoğlu; “We wanted to introduce the book to a new audience in London, as the book has recently been published in English translation for the first time in its 73-year history.”

Tabanlıoğlu Architects revives Madonna in a Fur Coat novel in the London Design Festival
The evocative installation, titled Beloved, takes the form of a 13-metre-long mirrored black box on the bridge. Visitors are able to peer inside through cracks in the surface of the enclosure to see atmospheric scenes from the novel re-created using cinematic techniques, physical objects, text, light, and sound. “The installation is a physical, multi-sensory realization of the way the human mind imagines scenes from a book as they read,” says Tabanlıoğlu. “It’s a very intimate experience that celebrates literature, passion and the human condition.”

Tabanlıoğlu Architects revives Madonna in a Fur Coat novel in the London Design Festival
Tabanlıoğlu Architects chose to site the installation on the bridge as a metaphor to describe the themes of the novel, which deals with the relationship between a young Turkish man and an enigmatic German woman, and is set between interwar period in two cities; Berlin and Ankara.

Tabanlıoğlu Architects revives Madonna in a Fur Coat novel in the London Design Festival
“The novel’s conclusion is that you should never evaluate people based on their appearance,” says Tabanlıoğlu. “It is the same with our installation. At first glance, you see just a huge black box. When you get up close, though, you can peer inside and witness the interior life of the book.”

Tabanlıoğlu Architects revives Madonna in a Fur Coat novel in the London Design Festival

Tabanlıoğlu Architects broken a record in the WA Awards 22nd Cycle with its 5 projects, and the global architecture firm is one of World Architecture Professional Members

The installation images courtesy of LDF

Cover courtesy of Tabanlıoğlu Architects

> via Tabanlıoğlu Architects