Konstantin Grcic Gives Design Miami a Place to Swing

Konstantin Grcic’s Netscape has given Design Miami an unusually participatory entrance experience. The 2010 Designer of the Year created an installation of 24 suspended seats, making sitting and movement part of the fair’s public presentation.

The project accompanied a new location and a temporary structure designed by Moorhead & Moorhead. Together, the building and installation treated arrival as part of the design experience, rather than a neutral passage before visitors reached the objects inside.

Netscape also offers a direct way to consider what a commission can do. It need not remain something viewed from a distance; it can organize bodies, pauses and informal encounters. That is especially useful at a fair, where looking can become hurried and concentrated. Grcic’s contribution gives visitors a reason to stop and use a piece of design, allowing the physical experience of the work to sit alongside the conversation about its author and form.