On the campuses of seven international architecture and design colleges and universities, USM ‘abandoned’ various pieces of USM furniture with a note on them that said: «Steal Me!». Who responded to this demand and what happened next was secretly documented by a film crew. Just transporting the USM sideboard or shelf turned out to be not at all straightforward, and things got really exciting when the new owner of the piece of furniture had to carry it up five flights of stairs. A short profile reveals more about the finder and his/her motivations for spontaneously taking the piece of USM furniture and integrating it into their own home.
Does the furniture get stuck in the subway? Does it get lugged into a crazy dorm room – or repurposed, decorated or used in a completely different way? Following these surprising and unpredictable events is the purpose of "Experiment": what does the finder do with it? The videos shed light on this. They show the journey of the USM furniture and they have a certain voyeuristic quality as the observer gains insight into the dwellings of the ‘thief’, whether this is a student apartment, a hip loft apartment or their parent’s home. You gain insight into the current furnishing styles in Tokyo, New York, London, Paris, Milan, Karlsruhe and Lausanne as the "Experiment" takes place at the colleges and universities of all of these cities.
"Experiment" is part of project50 – the global project is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the successful USM Modular Furniture Haller with surprising and forward-thinking interactions.
Another highlight of project50 is "rethink the modular": Renowned lecturers formed "USM master classes" together with students selected by them; experiments were carried out jointly on the topic of modularity. In September 2014, a workshop on this topic took place at the renown Boisbuchet site in France . After a week of stimulating interaction and study the students returned to their universities – the same ones that were also selected for "Experiment" – and have since been working on their projects until they are ready to be exhibited. The finished projects will be presented to the public at the Salone del Mobile in Milan, from April 14 to April 19, 2015.
The students are keeping us informed of their progress on their projects via blog posts:
USM.com/project50/rethink_the_modular
You can also follow up-to-date news on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook under #project50.