Replica Autoprogettazione, the latest exhibition at the ever-stimulating Tin Sheds Gallery in Sydney, dives directly into some of the thorniest questions that often go unasked in contemporary design. Complexity, opacity and detachment from the design and construction process – these are some of the topics explored by an exhibition that centres replica furniture. 

The exhibition showcases a series of replica furniture pieces, inventively fabricated from prosaic contemporary construction systems and materials, presented alongside graphical instructions for their reproduction. The whole is designed to establish a dialogue with Enzo Mari’s autoprogettazione from 1974, in which he created a series of furniture pieces constructed from rough sawn timber and assembled with nails. Or, more accurately, created the possibility of those furniture pieces – the idea was to have the user assemble them, and to do so in such a way as to gain understanding and appreciation of how mass-produced objects work.

In a word, we might say that Mari’s original project was about inviting a critical eye into the user’s experience of mass-produced design objects. It was deliberately set up as something of a counterpoint to the cliché American DIY piece, which aimed at the simplest path of least resistance with the fewest steps to create the object in question. Instead, the mentality explored here is about engaging deliberately with the design – how do contemporary manufacturing techniques work, and why are they so poorly understood in today’s world?

As the exhibition notes explain, “buildings have become more complex; the architecture that is so integral to our everyday lives has become both more reliant on standardised systems and more opaque than ever before, complexities concealed behind a veneer of surface. In contrast to the romanticised vision of the modernists exploring materials in new ways and pushing manufacturing techniques to their limits, we twist, fold and tear standard details into a collage of meaning.”

Related: Amplify, a previous Tin Sheds exhibition

The thought here is not an elitist one, claiming that the common folk simply don’t understand architecture and design. Rather, it’s a statement about the modes of production in our (post-) industrial age, an age of mass production. The complexity and scale of design today is such that it often obscures the fundamental principles underpinning it. Complexity begets detachment as the individual is necessarily alienated from the process of production. In response, then, Replica Autoprogettazione is making an intervention: “We will drag these systems into the light and we will make them dance.”

Themes interwoven through the exhibition include modernist furniture and its replicability, systemisation of architectural elements and DIY culture. The exhibition playfully and accessibly explores vital challenges in contemporary design, including questions about the future of craft practices, authorship and design copyright, and meaningful user engagement.

It coincides with the launch of Complete Thought Studio, a practice established by Stephen Clement and Michelle Dunas. For the exhibition, they have collaborated with Kathryn Du Pre Le Roux, Tom Rubenach, Sophie Canaris, iDuct Sheet metal and SSP Waterproofing, while sponsors are the University of Sydney, EzyStrut, Holman, Knauf, Layher, Projex, Rondo and Wolfin.

The exhibition launches with an opening night event on Thursday 1^st August, with other events including a gallery tour, workshop and panel discussion planned. Contact info@completethought.studio for more information. Replica Autoprogettazione runs at Tin Sheds Gallery from August 1^st to September 27^th, 2024.

Tin Sheds Gallery
sydney.edu.au/architecture

Complete Thought Studio
completethought.studio

Exhibition photography
Tim Salisbury

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