Inaugural Walker Design Triennial features flesh-like speakers and post-apocalyptic scenes

A set of speakers with flesh-like exteriors was among the conceptual design work shown at the first Walker Design Triennial in Minneapolis, USA, which curator Joseph Grima said reflected on the meaning of design in a world fixated on optimisation. Filling a series of galleries at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the exhibition was called Beyond Materialism and featured numerous examples of conceptual design. Above: Vessels created a fabric-covered kiosk. Top Lucas Muñoz Muñoz’s flesh-like speaker series The pieces ranged from the historical works such as Italian radical designer Alessandro Mendini’s 1970s Lassù – paired with depictions of the performance of the chair on fire – to an international set of design studios representing the field today. Grima, who has served as a curator and educator for several high-profile institutions including Design Academy Eindhoven and international exhibition series Alcova, said the show was meant to challenge mainstream conceptions of design. The exhibition included work by Astronauts “We live in an age that is conditioned to think that anything and everything can be designed, and often what is that everything can be optimised,” said Grima. “And it’s precisely this association between design and optimisation that this exhibition intends to question.” With objects of various scales on display, the Walker Design Triennial featured a room with large-scale conceptual installations. Many of the participants were international, with a cohort of contemporary US designers, including Germane Barnes and Theaster Gates. A piece by Jonghoo Jeong was one of several displayed on terracotta plinths Terracotta plinths were included as part of the exhibition design, supporting many of the small and large objects. Some of the pieces were commissioned directly for the event, mainly in the large-scale section. Among these was Spanish designer Lucas Muñoz Muñoz’s All Ears, a set of latex-covered speakers that were programmed to play sounds recorded in the months before in Minneapolis. A sleek soundboard allowed users to play the tracks, with multiple tracks routed through the amorphous, fleshy speakers all at once to cacophonic effect. Pieces by Objects of Common Interest (left) were displayed alongside works by Wknd Lab (right) Muñoz told Dezeen that the installation was designed to be a “microphone” for the city itself and “make visible the act of listening”. The broadcast from the soundboard was also projected out of the gallery as a radio sequence. Espace Aygo contributed a trio of pieces Also commissioned for the event was a work by Vessel, featuring two massive rolls of fabric spooled over a kiosk. The fabric was based on Vessel cofounder Navine G Dossos’s paintings of her and her partner James Bridle’s self-built home. Also in the large-scale room was a series of post-apocalyptic appliances made from found objects by Brussels-based Espace Aygo, derived from the studio’s 2022 transformation of a derelict apartment building into a home and art space. Alessandro Mendini’s 1970s Lassù was one of the historic works included The themes of fleshy objects, post-apocalypticism, and reuse continued into the rooms with smaller objects. Here, London-based studio Superflux showcased objects from its Relics of Abundance series, showing objects created by a future civilisation that may someday use our objects today in a time of scarcity, including a chair made from straw and rebar. Austro-Canadian designer Christoph Wimmer Ruelland created a series of furniture pieces with found objects that are extraordinarily colour-matched, while Korean designer Jonghoo Jeong utilised jerrycans to create a fountain, a reference to his past practice of dumping the objects in his process. Athens-based studio Astronauts showcased inflated metal works informed by the autobody shops, creating love seats, chairs and even a seesaw that are iridescent while still familiar. Superflux also contributed several pieces to the exhibition Italian-German designer Maximilian Marchesani created a structural piece made of smartphone glass that refracts metal-coated leaves as well as a chandelier that combined LEDs with branches. South Korean studio Wknd Lab created a series of stools made from discarded shells. Dozens of other designers took part in the installation, including Moon Seop Seo, Studio Ker, Objects of Common Interest, Stef Fusani, Kevin Quale and Kostas Lambridis, representing a who’s who of avant-garde design, refracted through the lens of Grima and the event’s artistic director, Asli Altay. It was an “opportunity to stop, take stock for a moment, and reflect on what design is today,” said Grima. Work by Maximilian Marchesani (left) and Christoph Wimmer Ruelland (right) was also on display Other recent design showcases include a show of wood furniture by Armadillo and furniture made from fragments of New York buildings by Rafael Prieto. Beyond Materialism is on show at the Walker Art Center from 17 October 2026 to 14 February 2027. Find out more about design and architecture exhibitions, talks and fairs at Dezeen Events Guide. Photography by Eric Mueller Read more