Exhibit design with stage in form of folding screen.] [Sketch of exhibit with modern chairs and tables 1910

Curator: This sketch from around 1910 by Winold Reiss is titled "Exhibit design with stage in form of folding screen." It’s a captivating example of Reiss’s early experimentation with what would become his signature Art Deco style, rendered in colored pencil and ink. Editor: Oh, wow, talk about stepping into a dream. It's giving me such a strangely serene vibe, but also a touch…unsettled? Like everything's geometrically perfect but feels just slightly off. Like a stage set that knows it is only a stage set. Curator: That's a fantastic observation. This design emerges from the avant-garde movements that were disrupting conventional representation during the early 20th century. There’s a dialogue happening here, I think, between the desire to represent real space and a self-conscious acknowledgement of the constructed nature of display and the way display influences spectatorship. How is it presenting the space in front of people so that they interpret the subject, and by extension the creator, in certain ways. Editor: See, exactly! It’s totally constructed—the super-stylized furnishings, the bold use of colour, the perspective tricks. But for me it’s also saying, “Don’t trust your eyes,” almost daring you to question the whole reality thing. All these slightly awkward and clashing shapes make it, honestly, so good. Curator: The Art Deco influence is apparent, but it’s also interesting to think about the cultural and social implications of the geometric patterns and the almost theatrical arrangement. Who would be in the exhibit? What narratives were those curators trying to portray in this very precise design. Editor: It is just, ultimately, super intriguing and satisfyingly weird. I could stare at it for ages. All the geometric patterns draw you into a very tight focal depth, then there is more beyond what you initially observe... Curator: It's a window into a world of possibility, a stage setting that embodies early 20th century change. Editor: So very well said.