18 January 2007

Design for Living

The role design has played in everyday life - from Roman lamps to iconic 20th century furniture - is examined in a new exhibition opening at the University of Dundee tomorrow (Friday January 19th).

"Design for Living" has been curated by Phoebe Lowe, a post-graduate student on the Museum & Gallery Studies course at the University of St Andrews. It uses objects selected from the University of Dundee Museum Collections to reveal the role of design in various aspects of life.

Design for Living brings together such disparate objects as a feathered shuttlecock, a Roman oil lamp, a variety of surgical and dental instruments and some iconic 20th century design chairs.

Phoebe said "The exhibition invites the viewer to consider the invisible link between objects that is formed by their design. I want people to explore the relationship between art, science and everyday life."

The exhibition includes examples from the University’s celebrated collection of design furniture. The Antelope chair, for example, was created by Ernest Race for the Festival of Britain in 1951, which brought spectacular modern design to an austere post-war society. Race’s design used spindly legs and ball feet to suggest the contemporary fascination with molecular chemistry and nuclear physics.

Phoebe graduated with a BA(Hons) in Contemporary Arts from the Manchester Metropolitan University in 2005 and has exhibited her own works of contemporary art in galleries in Manchester and Cheshire.

The exhibition is being staged in the Tower Foyer gallery at the University of Dundee and runs from 19th January until 24th February 2007. Admission is free of charge.

Opening Hours:
Mon-Fri 09:30-20:30 Sat 09.30-16:30
For further information phone: 01382 384310

For media enquiries contact:

Roddy Isles
Head, Press Office
University of Dundee
Nethergate Dundee, DD1 4HN
TEL: 01382 384910
E-MAIL: r.isles@dundee.ac.uk