BLESS

BLESS is part of the exhibition #industrialwitchcraft @diemoeglichkeiteinerinsel in Berlin. The group show (curated by @oliverkoerner ) includes Marc Brandenburg, @ursula_doebereiner , Thomas Rehnert, @elizad0uglas , #harunfarocki, @stephanieklossowski , @longuemarteau , #coseyfannitutti, @bohemienine It brings together industrial, precarious, pornographic, magical, modern looks with reflections on production conditions and (artistic) work. Industrial witchcraft is a reaction to the omnipresent pseudo-activist, pseudo-poetic -speak in contemporary art, with which we are fobbed off in a thoroughly passive-aggressive manner – and the systemic, affirmative zombie art talk that sounds as if you were in a spaceship or a tennis court in a nuclear bunker. As an improvised, experimental exhibition and fanzine, Industrial Witchcraft wants to move away from this virtuousness, and take a more precarious, “cheap,” insecure, vulgar position. For Industrial Witchcraft, BLESS contributed BLESS N°41 Sparschweinmöbel (Piggybankchair), 2010. BLESS transformed a standard chair with plexiglass and acrylic mirror attachments into a hybrid seating/money box/container for small change or donations. Money can be inserted through a slot in the plexiglass tubes attached to the chair legs, causing it to become heavier with each coin and develop gravitas. The original chair combines post-war design influences with craftsmanship, folklore, and a hint of Puritanism. One can imagine children sliding back and forth on the hard straw weave and being punished at the dining table. Alternatively, one could also interrogate fictional handmaids or witches on this chair. As a continuation of BLESS N°81 Soziusierung, BLESS has developed a new currency to inform about the Industrial Witchcraft show: den Informierenden Euro (the Informative Euro). It is attached as a limited to the fanzine that accompanies the exhibition. The Euro contains information about the opening as well as a traditional Wicca greeting. The Industrial Witchcraft fanzine, a limited edition featuring the Informative Euro, can be purchased @diemoeglichkeiteinerinsel , @bless_home_berlin and at the BLESS Shop in Paris. #berlinartweek

The situational design developed for @phileas.art engages with the organization’s role as a mediator and reimagines the space as a place for encounter and exchange. Through interventions in the office environment and its furnishings, the concept of proximity is taken literally. It explores how much closeness and transparency is possible with testing the boundaries of personal comfort within work processes. The title refers to the Sozius—the passenger seated behind the driver—who looks over the driver’s shoulder and occupies a nuanced position between observation and participation, between being a spectator and a fellow traveller. With special thanks to @bernhard_derprototyp @mosconemichele Thomas Rußmann @strobel.cnc Thomas Schneider @vitra for delivering beyond limits. Installation views by Kunst-Dokumentation.com / Manuel Carreon Lopez BLESS N°81 Soziusierung at Phileas active until 13 September 2025 Opernring 17, 1010 Vienna

For Spring 25, @ccaberlin ’s annual group exhibition, BLESS developed a site-specific installation tailored to the exhibition space located on historical Breitscheidplatz. The central element is the specially conceived N°29 Wallscape #40 Woodwonder CCA—a photographic snapshot of an interior space that has been temporarily furnished with products inspired by the Egon Eiermann interiors. Since the 2007 exhibition, BLESS N°00 – N°29: Retrospective Home Run, BLESS has used life-sized photographs of its products within exhibition contexts. The wallscape, mounted on a wall surface in the CCA, reflects and expands the space, complemented by two printed, semi-transparent curtains—the N°81 Woodwonder Curtains CCA. Various N°81 Woodified Objects leave the picture and find their way into the building as usable objects. The situation design alternates between everyday reality and its subtle irritation; it picks up on existing spatial situations and reinterprets them by shifting perspectives and spatial superimposition. Image surfaces merge with real space and create a multi-layered structure in a dialogue between two- and three-dimensionality, anchored in the language of the Egon-Eiermann-Bau. Curated by Dounia Biedermann, Mathis Neuhaus, Fabian Schöneich and Nan Xi and can be visited from Tuesday to Saturday from 11 AM to 6 PM until June 21st. Spring 25, Installation view, CCA Berlin, 2025. Photo 1–3: Diana Pfammatter/CCA Berlin. Detail first Photo: BLESS N°81 Woodwonder Curtains CCA, 2025 (left), BLESS N°29 Wallscape #40 Woodwonder CCA, 2025 (middle top), BLESS N°26 Cable Jewelry: Woodsleeve Multiplug 1,4 m, 2025 (right), and Farah Al Qasimi, Alone in a Crowd (King of Joy), 2022 (middle bottom), in: Spring 25, Installation view, CCA Berlin, 2025. Photo: Diana Pfammatter/CCA Berlin. Courtesy the artists and The Third Line.

Manuel Raeder and BLESS were invited to speak about their collaboration on the third BLESS book N°42–N°74 Celebrating 25 Years of Always Stress with BLESS at the 12th edition of REDO Prishtina 2024, an annual conference for graphic design and visual arts. Instead of speaking on stage, the public was involved by reading from BOM DIA BOA TARDE BOA NOITE and by wearing BLESS items they found on their seats, which introduced them directly to the other guests. With many thanks to Bardhi Haliti for the openness to new grounds, and to all who joyfully participated in this experiment. 12th edition of REDO Prishtina 2024 Manuel Raeder / BLESS @redoprishtina @studiomanuelraeder @bomdiabooks

Following requests of interest in a viewing of the integrity of video traces of BLESS activities during the last 25 years, we propose on October 1st an intimate movie salle de séjour, where 40 documents of presentations, exhibitions, readings and projects from 1998 until 2023 will be shown. BLESSkino N°00—N°73 October 1st 6pm - 10.30pm BLESS Shop Paris 14 Rue Portefoin, 75003 Paris There will be very limited seats, we recommend to email [email protected] for your specific 30 minutes slot to secure a seat in a quiet indoor atmosphere. Below you will find an overview of the slots we offer. There will be 5 minutes breaks in between the slots. Slot 1: 6:00pm — 6:29pm, N°00-04 — N°09 Slot 2: 6:34pm — 7:05pm, N°10 — N°18 Slot 3: 7:10pm — 7:42pm, N°20 — N°27 Slot 4: 7:46pm — 8:19pm, N°28 — N°34 Slot 5: 8:24pm — 8:51pm, N°36 — N°42 Slot 6: 8:56pm — 9:20pm, N°42 — N°43 Slot 7: 9:25pm — 9:55pm, N°43 — N°50 Slot 8: 10:00pm — 10:23pm, N°54 — N°73 Continuous outdoor projection & snack kiosk with movie related goodies on sale. Please note that this is not a fashion event or party, but rather a quiet gathering for those in town that are truly interested. With videos by Ink Agop, Vesna Baricic, Lilli Berger, BLESS, Mark Borthwick, Cécile Bortoletti, Marc Comes, Sarah Cunnigham, Discipline, Exoterika, Valentine Faure, Marina Faust, Jonathan Frantini, Yasmine Gauster, Adrien Genty, Mauricio Guillen, Dustin Helgeson, Hendrik Hellige, Sébastien Jamain, Mark Jansen, Stefan Korte, Marcello Krasilcic, Duc Liao, Armin Linke, Monia Lippi, Adrian Parvulescu, Despina Papadopoulos, Heinz Peter Knes, Ravelin, Jörg Todtenbier, Nicolas Trembley, David TV and Paul Wünsche

During the third annual arts and culture festival MANIFESTO, BLESS provided a lounge environment. This installation featured seating devices such as Chairwear b’s, Seatpaddings, Slit/Lapcushions, and Blankets, as well as a new concrete iteration of the Cablejewellery, all designed in direct reflection of the location. Organized by GOAT, a global platform dedicated to the past, present, and future of the arts, and curated by Kaleidoscope, the Milan-based, “almanac of contemporary aesthetics,” MANIFESTO took place in the stunning Espace Niemeyer in Paris from June 20 to June 22, 2024. This BLESS service is a continuation of the “take away architecture” projects that enable the public to engage with remarkable buildings around the world. This particular building originated in 1965 when the French Communist Party (PCF) commissioned Oscar Niemeyer to design an inspirational headquarters from which they envisioned leading the anticipated Leftist future. All seating devices were seamlessly integrated with the building’s original furniture, designed by Oscar Niemeyer. These pieces are upholstered with a woven 100% cotton fabric that illustrates various concealed aspects of the building that are normally rather hidden to the public. They are available in a limited edition of 60, along with the Holiday Niemeyer T-shirt, which features the hilly rooftop terrace landscape providing a breathtaking view of the entire city of Paris. Some of these products are currently available through GOAT, while others will become available within the next six months through BLESS retailers and our own shops and homes. With special thanks to everyone involved @kaleidoscopemagazine @goat @twotwenty_production @__giovanni__di__stefano @pcfparticommunistefrancais as well as to our current Paris team Camille Courtinat, Marie Dechery, Yuri Han, Joseph Inga, Hansol Kim, Teresa Meier, Haruki Shirota, Damien Troadec, Luis Wormser, Nataliia Zauholnikova and in particular Xinyi Pan, who came along by chance and performed wonders within this tight schedule. Special concrete cable development in collaboration with Romain Chevet Spanjersberg and Ieva Vinogradova

Following Agustin Acevedo Landaluce’s invitation for the Apartaco project as part of the Gallery Weekend Berlin 2024, BLESS built a permanent installation, the so-called Utility Room II. Formerly covered by a curtain to hide cleaning devices, cleaning products, and extra light bulbs, the niche was decorated with BLESS products photographed in their original arrangement to create a “Wallscape.” A further intervention included a BLESS clean-up service, the application of the created wallpaper and a reorganization of the items to be stored. The old curtain was replaced with a thin, transparent curtain showing the print of the decorated corner before it was cleaned out. We were delighted to participate in this exhibition proposed by the Weitenfeld Landaluce Gallery in Berlin. Thank you to everyone who contributed to the installation and visited Apartaco, in particular to Shota Mitsuoka, HongJi Yan and the BLESS Berlin team! Thank you @wlgb.io for the presentation of the installation and @ludgerpaffrath for capturing the installation with pictures. BLESS N°78 Backfrontals Utility Room II Apartaco Berlin #blessberlin #apartacoberlin #galleryweekendberlin

25 Years of Always Stress with BLESS 9/2/24 – 12/5/24 MACRO – Museo d’Arte Contemporanea di Roma Via Nizza 138, 00198 Roma museomacro.it / @macromuseoroma Making of: @bless_home_berlin Photography: Agnese Bedini, DSL Studio Curator: Chiara Siravo Director: Luca Lo Pinto Exhibition production: Maria Elena Ciullo Production Assistant: Marco Lo Giudice Production and Fabrication: Fabio Pennacchia Design Consultant: Etienne Descloux Wallscape Photography: Ludger Paffrath Art Handlers: Fabio Pennacchia, Matteo Pompili Tailoring Assistant: NABA – Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti: Matteo Battisti, Alessandro Meli

#ARITMICI #ARRHYTHMICS BLESS 25 Years of Always Stress with BLESS 9/2/24 – 12/5/24 MACRO – Museo d’Arte Contemporanea di Roma Via Nizza 138, 00198 Roma museomacro.it / @macromuseoroma Constituting the first institutional show in Italy dedicated to the work of the designers, the presentation alludes to over 25 years of products, situations, and collaborations, all set in a newly conceived environment, that reflects a 360° of all the shiny and the shady sides of always stress with Bless. The entrance to the museum space is occupied by the duo’s latest installation project, N° 78, Macrobackfrontal, a hybrid paravent structure with a dual nature. One side is furnished with elements and materials that mirror MACRO’s interiors and previous exhibitions. The shelving hosts the Bless library and archive of publications. On the flip side: N° 29 Wallscapes #38 A BLESShome kitchen, a life size photograph of the label’s home acts as displacing two-dimensional living environment furnished with a series of accessories that hang from the structure. The suspended products are the actors that represent a human being that is absent in this image, adding a third dimension to a still-life picture. The back wall of the space features N° 78, Blown Reality Curtain, Macrowindowview, a lightweight fabric screen concealing the absence of a window in the space and printed with a photograph of the view from the outer façade of the room where an actual, boarded up, window can be glimpsed. Just outside, a small cinema hosts Bless’ video-work archive: a moving image tour made up of a total of 21 films, produced between 1998 and 2023. Overall, the installation is intended by Bless as a living portrait of their story. Curatrice / Curator Chiara Siravo Produzione mostra / Exhibition production Maria Elena Ciullo Assistente produzione / Production Assistant Marco Lo Giudice Produzione e realizzazione / Production and Fabrication Fabio Pennacchia Allestitori / Art Handlers Fabio Pennacchia, Matteo Pompili Assistenti sartoria / Tailoring Assistant Xxx (NABA) Un sentito ringraziamento a / Heartfelt thank you to Sandro Magliano, Simon Parris, Sara Cattaneo

We warmly invite you to the official book launch of BLESS Celebrating 25 Years of Always Stress with BLESS N° 42 – N° 74 on January 19th, 18-20h at 0fr. 20 rue Dupetit-Thouars 75003 Paris In honour of the occasion, the BLESS N°72 Saunarider in cooperation with Sam Chermayeff Office will be present and fully operational. All slots are now reserved, but if you would like to join the waiting list please email [email protected]. Guests on the waiting list who have filled in a consent form will be able to participate if any slots become available. So bring your swimwear and a towel just in case. A shower as well as a warm chillroom, to relax and read the book, will be at your disposal. The BLESS N°78 Bookbag, a limited edition series of tote bags featuring the contents of the new book, can be purchased for the first time at the event. One bag corresponds to one page (front and back), and there is just one available for each of the book's 200 double-spreads. Coverbags, which instead feature the book’s cover, will also be on sale in unlimited quantities. @ofrparis @samchermayeffoffice @bomdiabooks @kwinstitutefcontemporaryart

Thank you @simonmparris for having started it all and @etiennedescloux and @ludgerpaffrath for the team-up and BLESSparis and BLESSberlin teams for the support and Amedeo Bottaro, Placido Cardillo, Marco Castellana, Maria Elena Cima, Valentina D´Attanasio, Delfina Delettrez Fendi, Etienne Descloux, Roberta Di Carlo, Rhys Evans, Luca Facchini, Monica Gioia, Maria Sole Henny, Ronny Kaubisch, Paolo Lauretta, Emanuele Lupi, Federica Elisa Macinante, Andrea Masiero, Cristiana Monfardini, Ilaria Nutini, Natasha Mori Oshiro, Ludger Paffrath, Simon Parris, Haruki Shirota, Cristiana Torre, Maria Teresa Venturini Fendi, Silvia Venturini Fendi and Nataliia Zauholnikova who were among the main driving forces that carried this project to life.

BLESS Book III Celebrating 25 Years of Always Stress with BLESS N°42-N°74 October 28 Komiyama Shoten / Komiyama Tokyo G 1-7 Kanda Jimbocho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 101-0051, Japan 3 Chome−20−4 1F D, Kanda Ogawamachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 101-0052, Japan BLESS BOOK III and a selection of products available until November 5th Closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays