In Balance by Hettler.Tüllmann

November 21, 2024–January 19, 2025
The Wolfsonian–FIU @ 1001 Washington Avenue

Like The Wolfsonian's current exhibition The Big World, the installation In Balance by Hettler.Tüllmann addresses the relationship between human activity and the environment. The design duo's iconic Swing chair is suspended in balance with a group of bromeliads, forming a mobile inspired by both Art Deco motifs in the museum's collection and by South Florida's plant life. If a person were to sit on Swing, that balance would be destroyed, a metaphor for the precarious stability of natural ecosystems when humans enter the scene.

Presented inside the Bridge Tender House, dedicated as the Josephine Baker Pavilion, in connection with The Big World: Alternative Landscapes in the Modern Era. Hettler.Tüllmann is a collaboration between Berlin designer Katja Hettler and Miami-based architect Jula Tüllmann.

About the Bridge Tender House

Architects Harrington & Cortelyou's Art Deco-style Bridge Tender House, dedicated as the Josephine Baker Pavilion, is one of two stainless-steel structures that sat at the ends of the Northwest 27th Avenue Bridge over the Miami River after its 1939 expansion. The Bridge Tender House was saved from demolition when the bridge was rebuilt and donated to The Wolfsonian in 1993. Today it is located in front of the museum along Washington Avenue and is often the site of contemporary art installations.