Grand Hotel, low-cost Design

[terrykb]

Perhaps memories of Springtime for Hitler (from The Producers) were too fresh. But when, on New Year's Day, I saw the cast of Grand Hotel at the Donmar Warehouse (set in 1928 Berlin) start dancing in rotating crosses, it did take me a moment to realise that they were not, in fact, swastikas, but the revolving hotel doors.

It is an energetic performance. Initially I wondered if it was going to be a collection of vignettes of goings-on at the hotel, but soon threads are woven into a more conventional plot. Some characters are redeemed; others fall; and a tragic ending is tempered by seeds of hope: an entertaining (if unchallenging) evening.

Earlier that afternoon I had visited the Design Museum (missing out on bumping into julietk on her visit there by just a couple of days). Although the Marc Newson exhibition (largely in the style of how the 1960s imagined the future) was OK, the Under a Tenner exhibition was the highlight for me: fourteen designers, each selecting ten examples of good design where each item must be under £10. These included (and now this turns into a Generation Game variant) a cardboard toilet, a Mini A-Z of London, a pack of playing cards, an insecticide-impregnated mosquito net, 10 jugs, flip-flops, and a disposable cardboard device for collecting and disposing of dog mess without getting near it. (I don't remember a cuddly toy there, but it's not impossible.)

The new semi-permanent exhibition, as well as including the London Underground exhibits, had an interesting section on book design (including lots of Penguins), but it was familiar from (and less comprehensive than) the Barbican's Communicate: British Independent Graphic Design since the Sixties exhibition (running until 23 January 2005). There was plenty to see there, with sections on Publishing (books, magazines, and newspapers), Identity (branding and logos), Arts (graphic design for museums, art galleries, and theatres), Music (record covers and posters), Politics and Society (which illustrated not only the style of design, but also the political controversies of the day), and Self-initiated Projects. I happily spent most of an afternoon pottering round it before Christmas.

Admission to Communicate also includes the Barbican's exhibition of Daniel Libeskind architecture. While I could appreciate the models, trying to visualise buildings based on architectural drawings themselves was tougher - rather like a concert where one strolls around an exhibition looking at pages of the score and getting only the occasional snatch of actual played music.