Unit F  ~PROJECT > PLUG IN PLUG IN Shopdesign is en vogue Curators: Andreas Bergbaur/ Ulrike Tschabitzer November 2001 – January 2002 In cooperation with well-reputed architects, international fashion designers have developed exciting shop concepts for the presentation of their labels during the past years. Together with the Australian designer Marc Newson, Walter van Beirendonck conceptualised a plastic environment for the presentation of his clothing and accessories, which was first presented in 1998 at the big W.&L.T;. exhibition at the Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum in Rotterdam. Later the glaring red prototype was shown at all W.&L.T;. shops worldwide. At present the Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas develops the shop architecture of all US-Outlets for the Italian exquisite label Prada and works on a book on shopping. In this context not only the interesting interplay of fashion and architecture in general, but also the new shop concepts of Colette in Paris, Pineal Eye in London and Nolita in New York should be mentioned, which have set new standards for sales of designer products. These shops do not only present an extremely interesting mixture of innovative fashion designers, but also enable the customer to visit exhibitions on fashion, graphic design and photography etc. and to obtain the relevant books, CDs and designer pieces at the same time. In the context of the exhibition Plug In an Austrian team of architects or designers will be invited to develop a mobile shop concept for Unit F büro für mode. This shop concept will be installed in an area of 150 m2 and should serve as a support for interesting Austrian labels as well as site for the presentation of visual material (prints, books, magazines, flyers etc.). During the entire duration of the exhibition the selected collections, accessories and books etc. can be purchased. In the coming years this mobile shop will be repeatedly used by Unit F. Furthermore the shop can be installed at other sites worldwide at any time. Parallel to the exhibition there will be a mediation series with international guest speakers on the subject 'shop culture' in external localities. A magazine on the exhibition providing an overview of the Austrian fashion scene (designers, photographers, stylists and graphic artists) will be published.