moving - norman foster on art by thomas manss & company

norman foster on art: moving – a book by thomas manss & company

thomas manss & company have designed a book to accompany the exhibition ‘moving – norman foster on art’, curated by norman foster at the carré d’art – musée d’art contemporain in nîmes, south france (on now until september 15th, 2013).

the publicaion offers readers insight into the british architect’s curatorial approach for the show in which he juxtaposes works of art, historic and contemporary, drawing parallels with aviation and automotive developments, as well as exploring the relationship between art and architecture. foster’s ideas and observations are discussed in an interview with the director of the cultural institution, jean-marc prévost, which provides the backbone to the catalogue which has been realized in close collaboration with publishers ivorypress, designers thomas manss & company and foster + partners who, according to foster, ‘occupied one intellectual space whose shared endeavours finally fused into these pages.’

moving – norman foster on art: ai weiwei sculptures

‘rarely have I seen a publication taking shape through such an intense collaboration between author, publisher and designer. the book gets deep into the mind of one of the greatest living architects and an avid collector. it reveals connections between art, architecture and technology that surprise and delight in equal measure.’ – thomas manss relishes in partnership

with its source book approach and a carefully orchestrated selection of materials and finishing techniques ‘moving’ carries manss’ mantra through, believing that ‘a book should be designed as an object so beautiful that you would never want to give it away.’ this printed project continues a long list of collaborations between foster and thomas manss & company including ‘foster 40’, a book celebrating 40 years of independent practice of foster + partners and ‘foster works’, a collection of six volumes featuring norman foster’s complete œuvre from the early team 4 beginnings to the latest projects.

‘moving – norman foster on art’ is a bilingual publication in french and english published jointly by ivorypress and the carré d’art – musée d’art contemporain.

moving – norman foster on art: jonathas de andrade

‘moving – norman foster on art’ marks carré d’art – musée d’art contemporain’s 20th birthday, in which they have invited foster to curate an anniversary exhibition to celebrate the building which he designed and completed 20 years ago. as a lover of art and with his wife being a great collector, the selected works include pieces by historic artists like alberto giacometti and alexandre calder, alongside contemporary artists (some of them seldom shown in france) such as ai weiwei and los carpinteros. the show takes visitors into the thinking of one of the greatest contemporary architects, who draws influences from the artistic offerings of modern art and emergent creative work. a few works chosen from the carré d’art – musée d’art contemporain collection will be mixed in with the foster-curated art.

moving – norman foster on art: not vital

moving – norman foster on art: zhan wang (left) and anselm kiefer (right)

moving – norman foster on art: david maisel

moving – norman foster on art: césar paternostro

moving – norman foster on art (detail)

moving – norman foster on art

thomas manss & companyfounded in 1993, thomas manss & company is a multidisciplinary design consultancy with offices in the united kingdom, germany, italy and brazil. working for cultural institutions such as the national portrait gallery, the william morris gallery and the british museum, as well as for publishers such as phaidon, thames and hudson and ivorypress, thomas manss & company have developed various projects for the arts sector, from campaigns to books and identities to signage systems. its strong portfolio of clients ranges across architecture, technology and luxury industries, including the architects foster + partners, the manufacturer of high-end speakers bowers & wilkins, the italian group of papers fedrigoni and the luxurious hotel group ritz-carlton.

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.