Porsche has a long history of setting design and style standards, with many cars from various eras recognised as classics. A wide range of textiles in car interiors have also become style icons. For example, the Pepita pattern of the 1960s has long since achieved cult status. The pattern is made up of small squares connected by diagonal stripes, and it provided the inspiration for the current, fifth edition of ‘The Art of Dreams’. This global initiative from Porsche is fostering the creation of art installations on the topic of dreaming. As part of Milan Design Week, the exhibition is on from 16 to 21 April 2024 at the Palazzo Clerici, the former city palace of the metropolis in northern Italy.
“With “The Art of Dreams” as the spearhead of Porsche’s cultural marketing, we are exploring the thrilling ambiguity and significance of dreams in our time. Together with Vitra, we are bringing design dreams back to life. Because the iconic Pepita pattern is more than just a pattern. It is cultural heritage“, says Ragnar Schulte, Head of Experiential Marketing at Porsche.
The centrepiece of the exhibition is the interactive sculpture ‘Lines of Flight’ by artist collective Numen/For Use. This enormous lightweight construction made of delicate cells and single-colour nets invites the observer to climb inside and investigate the suspended landscape. “Our idea of a dream is an inhabitable utopia,” say Numen/For Use. “For us, dreaming is a process of self-discovery in which we confront the new and the unknown. The monochrome diagonals within the Pepita pattern suggest a cloud of excited starlings fleeing the binary black and white matrix.”
Choreographers Imre and Marne van Opstal are staging a dance performance of ‘Lines of Flight’ on 16 April. “With its interwoven elements, the installation symbolises the complicated net comprising our thoughts, feelings and relationships,” explains Imre van Opstal. “This cocoon-like space evokes feelings of security, belonging and comfort. As a safe haven, it invites us to contemplate our carefree moments of fantasy and discovery. Through dance and movement, we endeavour to set free these unconscious rhythms.”
About the artists
The minds behind the Numen/For Use collective are product designers Sven Jonke, Christoph Katzler and Nikola Radeljković. For 20 years, the group has been active worldwide in conceptual art and industrial design, as well as in space and stage design.
Building on their careers as professional dancers – including with the Nederlands Dans Theater 1 + 2 and the Batsheva Dance Company – Imre and Marne van Opstal began working independently a number of years ago. The siblings are internationally active as choreographers, movement directors and performing artists.
About ‘The Art of Dreams’
In October 2021, Porsche launched ‘The Art of Dreams’ – a series of interactive art installations in various major cities. A work by French artist Cyril Lancelin kicked things off in Paris. His ‘Remember your dreams’ installation comprising giant, air-filled elements was later also exhibited in Singapore. This was followed in June 2022 by the installation ‘Everywhereness’ by Ruby Barber (Studio Mary Lennox, Berlin) at Milan Design Week.
This botanical artwork with a labyrinth of wild roses and a 1972 Porsche 911 S 2.4 probed the relationship between nature, human-made spaces and technology. Also in 2022, Chris Labrooy’s ‘Dream Big.’, a larger than life childhood dream, featured at Miami Art Week. After Milan, Porsche will be continuing its ‘The Art of Dreams’ series with further events.