First large retrospective of Iwan Baan to be hosted by Vitra Design Museum

The Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein, Germany is set to host the first large retrospective of Dutch photographer Iwan Baan. Opening in October, the exhibition will celebrate Baan’s documenting of the growth of global megacities and of prominent contemporary architects including Herzog & de Meuron, Rem Koolhaas, and Zaha Hadid.

The exhibition will include a selection of Baan’s iconic works as well as a number of photographs of vernacular and informal architecture around the world, from the round Tulou of southern China to rock-hewn churches in Ethiopia. 

“Baan’s vibrant realism puts the focus on people and their relationship to the built environment,” the organizers said when announcing the exhibition. “His observant eye presents architecture not as an abstract ideal but as the setting of everyday life, an organic part of the urban fabric — be it suburban sprawl or the booming metropoles of Africa and Asia.”

“Thanks to the great scope of his vision, Baan’s works offer a broad panorama of human building that impressively demonstrates the existential importance of architecture and urban design,” the organizers added.

To mark the exhibition, the Vitra Design Museum is also hosting a discussion with Baan this week at 1014 space for ideas in New York City as part of NYCxDESIGN. Taking place on May 19th, the event will see Baan in conversation with Vitra Design Museum curator Anna-Mea Hoffmann.