Coming soon! Opens September 16

Stephen Burks (American, born 1969), designer; DEDON, Germany, established 1990, manufacturer; The Others (Lanterns S, M, and Statue Lika), 2017, fiber (high-density polyethylene), aluminum, marble, acrylic, and LED solar panels, High Museum of Art, Atlanta, gift of DEDON. Photo by Joe Coscia.
Stephen Burks: Shelter in Place surveys the last ten years of Burks’s multifaceted, craft-centered design practice at midcareer, which includes global craft projects, industrial design, and a new work inviting radical participation. The exhibition will explore ideas concerning domesticity—namely, how we can design interiors to enable joyful living while empowering creativity. In the wake of several global crises, designers have responded by redefining our relationship to our homes, including interrogating the modernist trope of better living through design. As an African American designer, Burks has forged a distinctive path by embracing the challenge to advocate for hand production as a strategy for innovation within industrial production. Following the solo presentation of Stephen Burks: Man Made (held at the Studio Museum in Harlem in 2011), this exhibition will be the first to survey Burks’s workshop-based design practice, presenting several key projects from the last ten years. These industrial design and craft-centered projects will be seen in conversation with a new speculative project—Shelter in Place—that will explore the visionary possibilities of design.
Exhibition catalogue available for purchase at the Museum Shop and at museumshop.high.org. Members receive 10% off Shop purchases.
RELATED PROGRAMS
Member Preview: Stephen Burks: Shelter in Place
Thursday, September 15, 12 noon–7 p.m.
Members see it first and free! Register today for your timed tickets and be the first to explore Burks’s innovative industrial designs and craft-centered projects.