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Design Museum Gent www.designmuseumgent.be

The Desk

By 06-04-2021

The desk is more than just the piece of furniture that many of us spend a great deal of time sitting at. It is also a reflection of our ideas about life and work. Its design through the ages says something about social status, roles, and power, sometimes also about the emancipation of its users.

The Desk exhibits twenty writing desks and fifty office accessories from the Design Museum Gent collection centred around eight themes. From a mobile writing case to a prestigious showpiece or a secret storage place. From efficient workhorse and glossy executive furniture to a ‘deskless desk’. The display ends with a parade of once useful accessories that gradually fell into disuse.

The exhibition is produced in collaboration with MacGuffin, a design magazine featuring extraordinary stories about the life of ordinary things. Alfred Hitchcock used the term ‘MacGuffin’ for objects that trigger a story. This exhibition, too, takes an everyday object as the basis for revealing the special relationships with its users.

Exhibition ‘The Desk’
Design Museum Gent
27 March until 22 August, 2021
www.designmuseumgent.be
www.macguffinmagazine.com

Photos: Bart Van Leuven