Home Futures

The critically acclaimed exhibition, which was previously exhibited at the Design Museum London, explores how yesterday’s radical visions about the future home are reflected in today’s reality. Are we living in the way that pioneering architects and designers once predicted, or has our idea of home proved resistant to real change? Twentieth-century ideas, visions and prototypes are compared with the latest innovations in domestic living to question whether yesterday’s fantasies have become today’s reality.

On 25 April, IKEA Museum opens ”Home Futures – Glorious future!”, a new exhibition curated in partnership with the Design Museum London. The first version of the exhibition was recently on display in London and was acclaimed by art critics globally

The role of the home and the ‘home of the future’ has long intrigued designers, architects, manufacturers and popular culture alike. Throughout the twentieth century, the home was a place of social and technological change. It was also a testing ground, where architects, designers and manufacturers imagined new ways of living. Many of those visions anticipated how we live today, even if the way in which they were depicted might appear fantastical to us today. ”Home Futures – Glorious future!” explores how some of these radical ideas and visions are reflected in our homes today. How much has the home changed? And in what way has technology changed our relation to the home?

“In this exhibition we look upon the past 80 years and what pioneers within design and architecture thought about the home of the future. Which futuristic solutions and products did they envision? And which of them have actually become reality?” says Anna Sandberg Falk, exhibition curator at IKEA Museum.

Visitors will encounter many innovative projects and solutions but just as many wild experiments that never went into production. Well known works are on display, such as Gufram’s iconic Bocca sofa inspired by Mae West’s lips, ”Mobiles Buro” by Hans Hollein depicting his vision about the mobile office as well as the design studio Superflux questioning if smart technology actually might be ‘uninvited guests’. In addition to that IKEA also shares visions about the home, innovations as well as failed projects. One example is ’IKEA a.i.r’ – a series of inflatable sofas and armchairs. The idea was to solve the problem of sofas and armchairs being bulky products that are difficult and expensive to distribute and move around. The only problem was that the sofa involuntary moved around in the home, making it anything but successful.

”This exhibition shows that our dreams about the future and the ‘future of home’ really has not changed that much over time. What has changed though, is our mind-set. Today, people are more adaptive to change and we accept change faster. This might also be one of the reasons why so many of us long for the simple life, to live in tune with nature”, says Anna

”Home Futures – Glorious future!” is on display at IKEA Museum in Älmhult, Sweden from 25 April to 23 August 2019.

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