Dysfunctional : Beyond the Boundaries of Form and Function

The catalogue of a major show at the Ca'd'Oro in Venice, presenting site-specific work by 17 established and emerging artists who explore the boundaries between art, architecture, and design

Must form still follow function, as Martin Gropius, Le Corbusier, and their followers proclaimed? Dysfunctional invites a reconsideration of the conventional relationship between artistic expression and functionality. In an exhibition organized by the Carpenters Workshop Gallery in the stunning setting of the Ca''d''Oro in Venice, site-specific works by 17 established and emerging artists explore the boundaries of art, architecture, and design. These contemporary artists draw on the rich heritage of Venetian craftsmanship and the museum''s exceptional collection of Italian masterpieces to create a meaningful dialogue about the 20th century mantra of form following function. With work located in the realm between craft and art, each of the artists in the show challenges preconceptions about what is beautiful and what is useful, what is historical, and what is modern. Included here are site-specific installations and furniture-sculpture by Nacho Carbonell, Studio Drift, Vincent Dubourg and Virgil Abloh, organic benches by Wendell Castle and Mathieu Lehanneur, and inhabited clocks by Maarten Baas, among others.