The MADD, Museum of Decorative Arts and Design, presents Octave de Gaulle, Civilizing Space , the second exhibition in the cycle of invitations to young design graduates, thus asserting the institution’s support for artistic creation.

This exhibition describes an experimental project, being shown to the public for the first time.

For the past two years, Octave de Gaulle has been questioning these environments bequeathed by a Space Age reserved for the military. Aware that civilians will have other needs and other desires than scientists and armies, he devises objects, shapes and places which propose to accommodate the human being in his full cultural dimension.

How is one to have a drink with friends in a state of weightlessness? What environments encourage social interaction in the absence of weight and orientation? What is the best position for reading, looking at the sky or having discussions in Space?

These questions which underpin Octave de Gaulle’s work invite us to look differently at Space, the fantasies informing it, and the often Spartan reality which hallmarks it. The young designer’s body of research work, drawings and experiments brings out practical solutions and new shapes dictated by restrictions unknown on Earth.