Nike: Form Follows Motion
Vitra Design Museum
Date: 2024
The worlds first comprehensive museum exhibition dedicated to Nike
Installation view of ‘Nike: Form Follows Motion’ at the Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein.
Photos: Thomas Adank
The Vitra Design Museum joined forces with Nike, the pioneering force in athletic innovation, to present Nike: Form Follows Motion, an unprecedented exhibition tracing Nike’s evolution from its origins in 1964 to its status as a global cultural phenomenon. Curated by Glenn Adamson and Marcella Hanika, the exhibition took visitors through five decades of groundbreaking design, showing how the relentless pursuit of athletic excellence shaped the intersection of form and function. The show featured an comprehensive selection of Nike’s boldest footwear and apparel innovations, including rare gems from the Department of Nike Archives. Spanning the company’s entire history, the collection highlighted everything from Bill Bowerman’s handcrafted performance shoes to contemporary collaborations with leading designers, such as Virgil Abloh, and community-driven initiatives.
JA Projects designed an exhibition which channelled both the precision and flair, so evident in peak sporting performances. Organised into four sections – Track, Air, Sensation and Relation – and developed in collaboration with graphic designer Daniel Streat, the varied and immersive setting paid tribute to Nike’s legacy in sport, technology and design, but also that of the Vitra Design Museum itself – Frank Gehry’s inaugural European project – whose sweeping curves and bold geometries echoed the innovative, boundary-pushing spirit of athletic performances and fashion showcased.
Installation view of ‘Nike: Form Follows Motion’ at the Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein.
Photos: Thomas Adank
The Vitra Campus, at the centre of which sits the The Vitra Design Museum, serves as an arena for the display of groundbreaking design and designers. In a similar way Nike has long embraced the arenas where technology and innovation empower athletes, both professional and everyday, to push boundaries and set new standards. Each room in the exhibition amplifies the parallels between these two rich design institutions and their commitment to embracing spaces of excellence, by superimposing the geometry of iconic sporting arenas of Nike folklore onto and within the spaces of the museum itself.
Room 1, Track pays tribute to the legendary Tennessee State University track, where coach Ed Temple trained the Tigerbelles, the first Nike-sponsored team, to set a world record.
Room 2, Air, honours the Chicago Bulls stadium, where Michael Jordan redefined the sport, shattering records and debuting game-changing footwear that revolutionised basketball forever.
Room 3, Sensation, pays homage to the Nike Sports Research Lab which, since 1980, has embraced scientific research to shape the way designers and athletes push the limits of sports.
Room 4, Relation, explores Nike’s deep-rooted connections within the creative community. From visionary collaborators like Virgil Abloh and Riccardo Tisci to everyday designers reimagining the Nike Swoosh, this space celebrates the brand’s worldwide cultural impact, where the arena is everywhere and nowhere at once.
Conceptual diagrams superimposing the geometry of iconic sporting arenas of Nike folklore onto and within the spaces of the Vitra Design Museum
Diagrams: JA Projects
Installation view of ‘Nike: Form Follows Motion’ at the Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein.
Photos: Thomas Adank
The design is at once poetic, celebratory and highly functional; embracing the design heritage of both Nike and Vitra, accommodating a wide range of objects, and facilitating the need to travel to other venues.
Famously Tinker Hatfield, who was the first to make the Nike 'Air unit' visible, was inspired by Richard Rogers and Renzo Piano's Centre Pompidou and how it externally showcased its mechanics and structure. Rogers and Piano were, in-turn, famously inspired by Bukminster Fuller who’s geodesic domes – one of which sites directly opposite the museum – pioneered a similar sentiment. We took inspiration from these cyclical references to embrace a sort-of full-circle moment whereby the design celebrated that which would normally be hidden, specifically the hard-working A-frame structure and modular slot-in showcases that allow for disassembly, adaptation and reuse.
The frames were draped in fabric printed with abstractions of key Nike shoes and moments in motion (including a giant swoosh), and both elements dyed in shades representative of iconic Nike eras; the green of Track, a reference to the legendary hue from Nike's early days and connection to the University of Oregon's running team; the red and black of Air, a reference to the Chicago Bulls, Jordan's first team after leaving college; the luminescent yellow of Relation, a tribute to the iconic Nike Volt, a unifying colour tuned to help athletes stand out during the 2012 Olympics, no matter their national affiliation.
Core Team
JA Projects and Daniel Streat
Credits
Curators: Glenn Adamson and Marcella Hanika
Particulars
Client: Vitra Design Museum