Silestone Sponsors MoMA Exhibition Counter Space: Design and the Modern Kitchen

We were excited to learn that Silestone is sponsoring an exhibit at The Museum of Modern Art in New York. The exhibit, Counter Space: Design and the Modern Kitchen, will run through March 14, 2011. The exhibition explores architectural modernism by chronicling the transformation of the kitchen in the 20th century. 

In a recent press release, Lorenzo Marques, VP of Marketing for Cosentino North America, Silestone’s parent company, said, “We are honored to sponsor this incredible exhibition and to partner for the first time with The Museum of Modern Art. The Silestone brand is synonymous with the sophisticated modern-day kitchen, and shares a deep appreciation for the important, ever-changing, role of this room in the home. The evolution over the decades is truly impressive. We hope that Counter Space inspires visitors to consider kitchen design and its significance in a whole new light.” 

“As our business continues to grow in North America, it’s imperative to support architects and designers, and share an appreciation for our industry,” he continued. “This educational exhibit provides a retrospective of kitchen design over the decades and prompts us to consider an exciting future of endless design possibilities.” 

The exhibit uses photos, blue prints, documents and modern art to examine the historic and cultural significance of the kitchen since the 1920s. It is broken up into four main parts: The New Kitchen, the Frankfurt Kitchen, Visions of Plenty and Kitchen Sink Dramas. The introduction from MoMA’s own website describes them best:

• The New Kitchen, an interwar design concept that embodied modernist principles of efficiency, hygiene, and standardization, appeared in numerous iterations throughout Europe and the United States. These modern kitchens reflected an idealistic faith in the transformative power of art and technology to effect social change. The iconic Frankfurt Kitchen, designed by Margarete (Grete) Schütte-Lihotzky, was mass-produced for public housing estates in the aftermath of World War I. An unusually complete example, recently acquired, is displayed exhibition for the first time.
• Visions of Plenty examines how the innovations of Schütte-Lihotzky’s generation were extended and modified after World War II by the consumer revolution and Cold War politics. It was also during these years that “dream kitchens” emerged as sites for selling ideas of creative leisure and futuristic fantasy.
• Kitchen Sink Dramas offers psychologically nuanced views of lived experience in this hub of domestic activity—its nightmares and delights—seen in works of art made since the 1960s.

If you are of a certain age, you’ll be able to relate. Think of your own kitchen from childhood to the present and how it has changed. What once might have been merely a room to cook and eat has become the center of the home’s activity. They now house entertainment centers, computers, sofas and game consoles right beside the microwave and juicer. As our lives and technology have evolved, so has the kitchen. According to the MoMA exhibit, the kitchen has even driven some of the innovations of the past century. Just ask the good folks at Silestone!