(Ex-)Change - Proto: Dana Lixenberg, Richard Hutten and students

The PROTO Art & Design Festival is a collaboration of Zwolle's creative mbo and hbo programmes, where students can show their work at various locations. These include the Spoorzone, where in future the Artez, Cibap and Museum de Fundatie programmes will together form a new cultural centre. In this pilot exhibition, work by two PROTO artists in residence will be shown for the first time, together with work by students to whom they have given master classes. This year, photographer Dana Lixenberg and designer Richard Hutten are PROTO's guests.

_{Richard Hutten, Stedelijk Museum Chair, 2008, Steel/PU, 77 x 42 x 46 cm, loan from artist}

Dana Lixenberg's selected works focus on the portrait in relation to the environment, and more specifically to pieces of furniture; often very ordinary, mass-produced chairs and tables. These objects define the body language of those portrayed and contrast with Richard Hutten's extravagantly designed chairs and objects in this exhibition. Some of Lixenberg's work in the exhibition depicts people who have been pushed to the margins of society by various circumstances. Take, for example, The Last Days of Shismaref (2008), a portrait of the Inupiaq community in Shishmaref, Alaska, which is slowly but surely losing its island due to the effects of climate change. In the portraits, photographed in interiors full of details, traditional lifestyles rub shoulders with today's disposable society. For Imperial Courts, 1993-2015, a project about a social housing project of the same name in Los Angeles, Lixenberg followed residents over a long period of time, capturing the changes of the neighbourhood. A book launch at Imperial Courts in 2015 shows how personal the photos and book are to the residents.

Her students - from different courses and years - focused on the portrait in various forms, with attention to an underlying context or story.

For Richard Hutten, on the one hand, the change lies in the making process - made visible in the exhibition using sketches and models alongside the designed final products. On the other hand, the moment the product is sold, it also takes on a life of its own. Hutten's book Works in Use (2006) highlights this - his popular design 'dumbwaiter', for example, a mug with two large handles, is also used as a child's or dog's toy. Connected to this is Lixenberg's reception of photographs of the young rappers Tupac and Biggie, both icons of youth culture - their portraits became world-famous and took on a life of their own. By Hutten, pieces on show include the Layers Cloud Chair, the Book Chair and carpets he designed. His students have mainly focused on the creative process and the story behind it - so not only finished designs are on display.

Richard Hutten (Zwollerkerspel, NL, 1967) has had his own design studio in Rotterdam since 1991. He has also been closely involved with design studio Droog Design since its foundation in 1993 and is one of the leading exponents of Dutch Design. Hutten is known for what he calls his 'No Sign of Design' furniture; functional furniture in a conceptual and humorous style. His most popular design is the 'domoor', designed in 2002 and produced by Gispen; a quirky mug with two giant ears. His clients include Artifort, Muji, Moooi, Qeeboo and Moroso, and his work has been included in more than 50 museums worldwide, including MoMA (New York and San Francisco, US), the Victoria & Albert Museum (London, UK), the Chicago Art Institute and the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam.

_{Dana Lixenberg, Minnie Olanna, 2007, from the series The Last Days of Shishmaref, 2008, Courtesy of the artist and GRIMM Amsterdam | London | New York, Copyright Dana Lixenberg}

Dana Lixenberg (Amsterdam, NL, 1964) undertakes long-term projects, often with a focus on underexposed or marginalised communities. Her best-known work is the extensive project Imperial Courts, 1993-2015; a portrait of a small community in Watts, Los Angeles. This series was awarded the 2017 Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize. Her work is exhibited museologically and is represented in prominent collections at home and abroad. Furthermore, Dana Lixenberg has completed many editorial assignments for magazines such as The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, Vibe, Vogue, Newsweek and Vrij Nederland.

(Ex-)Change is part of the Future Factory, Museum de Fundatie's laboratory. Here, multidisciplinary makers explore the heartbeat of time. What themes define the future? Answers can be seen in exhibitions both inside and outside the museum.

Header: Dana Lixenberg, Untitled Birthday Party, 2009, from the series Imperial Courts, 1993-2015 (2015), 100 x 125 cm, Courtesy of the artist and GRIMM Amsterdam | London | New York, Copyright Dana Lixenberg

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