Form And Function Meet In ‘Modern By Design’

http://www.npr.org/2011/07/28/138477609/form-and-function-meet-in-modern-by-design

Art museums are, for the most part, full of paintings and sculptures you might love to own — a Renoir for the living room, that Rodin for the backyard — but never could afford. In Atlanta, The High Museum of Art is showing some museum-quality objects that have been affordable over the decades, either as originals or knock-offs. Modern by Design taps ordinary 20th century items which The Museum of Modern Art in New York bought for their permanent collection — and are now lending to the High.

All day long, in the lobby of the museum, an adorable little orange robot with a long arm assembles 40,000 metal squares, one on top of another, into the shape of an 18th-century French Rococo-style table. She’s quiet, but has a great work ethic. Dutch designer Joris Laarman built her for the Modern by Designshow — on commission from the High Museum. Laarman believes that someday, we’ll all have such small robots with which to make our own tables or chairs, or whatever else strikes our fancy.