On Show

Sculpture, drawings, photographs, furniture and ceramics by US architect Richard Meier have gone on show in a wide-ranging exhibition in London that runs until December 30. Richard Meier: Art and Architecture shows there is much more to Meier’s work than his world-renowned buildings, such as the Getty Center in Los Angeles or Barcelona’s Museum of Contemporary Art. Photographs and computer renderings demonstrate his love of light and curve but it is the objects and furniture that really grab your attention. A grand piano on chrome legs looks like it is dancing to its own tune and his tableware and silverware could be straight out of the arts and crafts movement.
‘Richard Meier: Art and Architecture’, until December 30, Louise T Blouin Foundation, London. Tel: +44 (0)20-7985 9600; www.ltbfoundation.org

Across the divide

An exhibition exploring the relationship between art and design opens on Friday at the Centre d’Art Contemporain in Geneva. Wouldn’t It Be Nice …Wishful Thinking in Art and Design draws on the work of a dozen or so designers, architects and artists to demonstrate how lines between the disciplines are being blurred. Among those taking part are Jurgen Bey, originally part of Dutch design group Droog, and Dunne & Raby, a collaboration between industrial designer Anthony Dunne and architect Fiona Raby, which looks at “hypothetical objects”. Martino Gemper, best known for his 100 Chairs project, will be running a workshop until the end of the exhibition’s first week producing furniture and other objects for the centre’s visitors and staff.
‘Wouldn’t It Be Nice …Wishful Thinking in Art and Design’, October 26-December 16, Centre d’Art Contemporain, Geneva. Tel: +41 22-329 18 42; www.centre.ch

Oscar on the line

The Royal Institution of British Architects’s 2007 International Conference begins in Paris on Friday. Jean Nouvel, Rafael Vignoly and Will Alsop will join a line-up of artists, engineers, a film producer and, of course, other architects to discuss the benefits of collaboration. The two-day event will take place in Oscar Niemeyer’s headquarters for the French Communist Party, a building rarely open to the public and reportedly Neimeyer’s favourite European building. The architect himself will address the conference from Brazil via a video link.
RIBA International Conference 2007, October 26-27, French Communist Party headquarters, Paris. Tel: +44 (0)1252-781 178; ribaconference@seafa.co.uk

Home sale

On Tuesday, Christie’s begins its Autumn Decorative Arts season with a sale of ceramics by Clarice Cliff and William Moorcroft. Highlights include a Cliff Blue Firs Bonjour coffee service, estimated at £2,000-£3,000 and a single owner’s set of preserve pots (£300-£1,500) and a Moorcroft Iris vase, estimated at £1,200-£1,800. The next sale in the season is art nouveau and art deco, which takes place on November 7.
Clarice Cliff and Moorcroft, October 23, Christie’s, London. Tel: +44 (0)20-7930 6074; www.christies.com

Old in New York

The 2007 International Fine Art and Antique Dealers Show runs in New York until Thursday. A highlight of the antiques calendar – (it’s known to aficionados simply as “the International”) – the show brings together some of the world’s leading dealers and examples of the best items they have for sale. Plenty of pieces on sale here are out of most mortals’ price range but there are some starting at a few hundred dollars and the show always turns up some surprising bargains. Look out for museum-quality objects, especially from the 18th and 19th centuries.
The ‘International Fine Art and Antique Dealers Show’, until October 25, Park Avenue Armory, New York. Tel: +1 212-642 8572; www.haughton.com

A condominium block in Tokyo’s Joto district has been honoured as part of this year’s Japanese Good Design Awards. The awards recognise a refreshingly broad range of items from household goods, interiors and architecture to tools, telecommunications devices and medical equipment. Ascot Corp’s Styim complex was praised for its 18 different floor-plans, the creative use of a relatively small site and the attractive “mosaic” appearance of its facade.
www.g-mark.org; www.ascotcorp.co.jp

Light show

In London, a selling exhibition of silver candelabras, candlesticks and lighting runs from now until into the new year. Let There Be Light at the London Silver Vaults features pieces from 30 dealers of antique and modern silverware, all of them based at the vaults. Prices start at about £100 for antique silver, less for modern objects.
‘Let There Be Light’, until early 2008, London Silver Vaults. Tel: +44 (0)20-7242 3844; www.thesilvervaults.com