Welcome to The Buzz, our monthly roundup of design world news and inspiration for Design Miami’s discerning community of creatives and collectors. Enjoy!

Martino Gamper at Haus der Kunst München

When we interviewed recent OBE recipient, London-based designer Martino Gamper, last June, he mentioned an upcoming project with Haus der Kunst in Munich. A week or so ago, that project opened to the public. Part artist residency, part installation, and part performance, Sitzung is an evolving social space where Gamper will be creating a series of newly designed chairs between now and April 1st. Gamper’s chairs will be continuously reconfigured by the public and the staff according to a set of rules outlined by Gamper. Visitors are encouraged to gather, rest, and play in response.

Cody Norman at I.M. Weiss Gallery

Last weekend, Detroit’s I.M. Weiss Gallery opened Re:animation, an installation of new work from Chicago-based designer Cody Norman, who specializes in extending and elevating the lifecycle of plastic waste. For this project, Norman has “re-animated” plastic Adirondack chairs rescued from Chicagoland alleys and dumpsters—and ultimately from landfills. After shredding the discarded furniture to bits, he fed the upcycled material through an extruder while he and his team shifted and rotated the steel armature in a kind of spontaneous, hands-on choreography. The resulting chair design is a much more intriguing iteration on the original Adirondack form. No one transforms mass-produced trash into intricately crafted treasure like Norman. Re:animation is on view through September 2nd.

Haylie Jimenez & Sydnie Jimenez at Mindy Solomon Gallery

This past weekend also saw the opening of How Aweful Goodness Is, an exhibition at Mindy Solomon Gallery presenting recent ceramics and drawings by twin sisters Sydnie and Haylie Jimenez—the Florida natives’ first show in Miami. While Sydnie focuses on three-dimensional expressions and Haylie works in two dimensions, together they find inspiration in their young, Black and Brown community while investigating how notions of righteousness can be weaponized against those most marginalized by society. How Aweful Goodness Is runs through September 9th.

“In creating the exhibition title, I was thinking about who decides right and wrong, who our laws are made for, and who benefits from professionalism and the effects of white supremacy and colonialism. I created large figures, some wielding swords and some with horns and claws to act as a physical manifestation of my need to protect myself and my loved ones in a society that does not benefit us and can be detrimental to our mental health, economic stability, and physical well-being.” —Sydnie Jimenez

Beyond Granite: Pulling Together on the National Mall in DC

On August 18th, at sites around the National Mall in Washington, DC, a pilot initiative called Beyond Granite will be unveiled, presenting new perspectives on US history and our nation’s collective memory. For the first iteration of this annual temporary exhibition, the co-curators—Monument Lab Director Paul Farber and Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Salamishah Tillet—chose the theme Pulling Together, inspired by “the 1939 Easter Sunday performance of renowned Black opera singer, Marian Anderson, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, as she was barred from nearby Constitution Hall due to segregation in the capital.” In response, six American artists—Derrick Adams, Tiffany Chung, Ashon T. Crawley, vanessa german, Paul Ramírez Jonas, and Wendy Red Star—each designed a commemorative installation exploring issues of identity, collectivity, participation, and legacy. Pulling Together, which includes a series of public programs and performances, runs through September 18th.

“I hope Beyond Granite: Pulling Together sparks important, and sometimes hard conversations in living rooms, classrooms, sidewalks, and beyond, about our collective experience and history as Americans. These new installations are opening the doors to a deeper and more meaningful dialogue about what stories we should pass on to the next generation.” —Teresa Durkin, Executive Vice President, Trust for the National Mall.

Jesse Ede at Southern Guild

Toward the end of the month, on August 24th, Southern Guild in Cape Town will open Of Space and Time, a solo exhibition of new, large-scale sculptural works by Cape Town-based artist Jesse Ede. According to the gallery, this new collection is “a poetic contemplation of our place in the universe and a deep engagement with the materiality of stone and metal.” And: “The exhibition develops his long-held interest in interplanetary phenomena, and the existential reckoning of confronting the vastness of man’s known universe.” On view through October 19th, it promises to be an impressive showing, both physically and conceptually.