AGO projects incubator gallery by rodman primack and rudy weissenberg opens otro reino show by LANZA atelier in mexico city
nine pieces of furniture question the limits of objects, while bizarre ceramics draw from the city's broken urban fragments.
titled otro reino, the inaugural exhibition of AGO projects‘ mexico city space brings together a selection of furniture pieces by architecture studio LANZA atelier, as well as a group of neo-neo ceramics by MT objects. the gallery incubator, which is based in new york and recently opened its second outlet in the mexican capital, encourages handcrafted works and supports artists and designers with a heightened level of social and environmental consciousness that strive for a more equitable society. 
overview of the otro reino exhibition at the fifth floor of paseo de la reforma 382
image © designboom
founded by rudy f. weissenberg and former chief creative officer and executive director of design miami/miami and basel editions, rodman primack, AGO projects is a design-driven practice and designer representation space working together with artists and designers to realize personal projects of various scales. in the exhibition otro reino (another kingdom), the gallery brings together pieces by LANZA atelier, founded in 2015 by isabel abascal and alessandro arienzo, who challenge the limits of objects with nine pieces of furniture, and the works of mauricio paniagua and tony moxham of MT objects, who draw from the broken urban fragments they spot on their daily walks through mexico city’s roma neighborhood to create their bizarre, extravagant ceramic forms. 
dinner at 8 table and chairs by LANZA atelier
image © designboom
curated by mario ballesteros, otro reino gathers nine pieces of furniture by LANZA atelier, some of which respond to ‘practical needs’, although ‘we have already seen that this is hardly a normative, narrative, mythical requirement,’ as the curatorial text states. what the nine works respond to is an impractical obsession the studio has, a constant rethinking of the limits of objects and their functions. works include U-shelf, an object that acts as a bookshelf, room divider, and steel stair at once; a chair that can be flat-packed to save space; and chairs that can be changed to become other objects. along with the works of LANZA atelier, the neo-neo ceramics of MT objects add a colorful, bizarre tone to the exhibition space. created by design duo mauricio paniagua and tony moxham, who live in mexico city’s roma neighborhood, the sculptural objects reference urban accidents in their forms, drawing from the broken sidewalks and fragments the two notice on their daily walks in neighborhood’s streets.
LANZA atelier’s reflective three steps table and folding chair
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single lady desk and chair by LANZA atelier
image © designboom
image © designboom 
neo-neo ceramic piece takes cues from neolithic formations and urban concrete discoveries
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LANZA atelier’s folding chair offers a great space-saving solution
image © AGO projects
the chair is presented in five stages of folding/unfolding
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LANZA atelier’s yellow U-shelf has been created in collaboration with atra studio
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the ceramic shaft piercing this brutalist vase s’ymbolically kills the vessel and allows for it’s passage into the afterlife’
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MT objects’ ceramics sit between two shape shifting furniture pieces by LANZA atelier
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rather than being glazed, the ceramic pieces are hand-painted
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they are painted in impermeabilizante, the ubiquitous roof sealant that can be seen all over latin america
image © designboom
project info:
exhibition name: otro reino
exhibiting designers: LANZA atelier and MT objects
curator: mario ballesteros
exhibition space: AGO projects
location: paseo de la reforma 382, fifth floor, mexico city, mexico
duration: 23 september – 16 november
opening hours: monday – friday, 11 am – 5 pm
admission: free
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