The Design Museum in London has reopened with Electronic

In Livegreenblog we’ve told you about a few museums that have reopened after months of lockdown, enabling real visits for an all-round experience. And one of these - with new ‘Safe and Sound’ safety procedures in place - is the Design Museum in London. About the opening on 31 July, just a few weeks ago, Tim Marlow, Chief Executive and Director of the Design Museum said: “There couldn’t be a better exhibition to reopen with than Electronic: From Kraftwerk to The Chemical Brothers. A powerful statement about creative freedom across music, art, technology and design, which will be celebrating what many of us have missed the most during the lockdown; and a reminder that a lot of work is still needed to get vast areas of the cultural sector to open again.”
The exhibition concept is by the Philharmonie de Paris - Musée de la Musique, exploring the hypnotic world of electronic music, from its origins to its futuristic dreams. The London edition features the museum premiere of electronic pioneers The Chemical Brothers’ sensory spectacle by creative studio Smith & Lyall, featuring mesmerising visuals for the Grammy Award-winning track ‘Got to Keep On’. 
Evoking the experience of being in a club, the exhibition transports visitors through the people, art, design, technology and photography that have been shaping the electronic music landscape. So they can celebrate 50 years of legendary group Kraftwerk with their 3D show. 
And travel to dance floors from Detroit to Chicago, Paris, Berlin and the UK’s thriving scene; featuring over 400 objects and the likes of Detroit techno legends Kevin Saunderson, Juan Atkins, Jeff Mills and Richie Hawtin, “Godfather of House Music” Frankie Knuckles, Haçienda designer Ben Kelly and the extreme visual world created by Weirdcore for Aphex Twin’s ‘Collapse’. 
Visitors can also indulge their senses with large scale images of rave culture by Andreas Gursky, iconic DJ masks and fashion, a sound reactive visual installation explicitly created for the exhibition by 1024 architecture, graphics from Peter Saville CBE, history-making labels and club nights. All to a genre-spanning soundtrack by French DJ and producer Laurent Garnier, created specifically for the exhibition.
Apart from the disruption to the music scene, the pandemic also had a significant impact on the Design Museum’s forward programme. The exhibition Sneakers Unboxed: Studio to Street has been postponed until 2021, and the Design Museum and Prada regret to announce that the exhibition ‘Prada. Front and Back’, which was programmed to open in September 2020, has been cancelled due to Covid-19. Details of a new collaboration between the Design Museum and Prada will be revealed in 2021. Beazley Designs of the Year will open as planned in October 2020.

Christiane Bürklein

Exhibition: Electronic: From Kraftwerk to The Chemical Brothers
from 31 July to 14 February 2021
Design Museum, London, UK
Images: see captions
01_Chemical_Brothers_The_O2_30th_November_2019_by_Luke_Dyson
02_Kraftwerk_Photo_credit_Peter_Boettcher
CORE_by_1024_architecture._Photo_credit_Gil_Lefauconnier
Chemical_Brothers_The_O2_30th_November_2019_Luke_Dyson
Jean_Michel_Jarr's_virtual_studio._Photo_credit_Gil_Lefauconnier
Kraftwerk Photo_credit_Peter_Boettcher
The_Visitor_for_Jeff_Mills_by_Yuri_Suzuki._Photo_Gil_Lefauconnier
Vanity_Flightcase_by_Bruno_Peinado._Photo_credit_Gil_Lefauconnier
Find out more: https://designmuseum.org/exhibitions/electronic-from-kraftwerk-to-the-chemical-brothers