NOTTINGHAM.- Nottingham Contemporary presents the first UK survey of the work of Swiss architects and designers Trix & Robert Haussmann. This retrospective explores the duo's playful innovations and speculations, bringing together works from the last 50 years.

Trix & Robert Haussmann are among the most significant and intriguing Swiss architects of the twentieth century. Blending popular culture with 16th-century Mannerism, their work concerns illusion and ambiguity, and spans architecture, product design, installation, furniture and textiles. Through their critical commentary and subversive design, they have provided a key contribution to contemporary conversations on art and architecture.

The retrospective at Nottingham Contemporary brings together early pieces, such as adapted chairs from the 1960s, with maquettes, fragmented neoclassical pillars and recent mirrored works. The Haussmanns recently described mirrors as a kind of 'virtual reality', saying: 'with a mirror, you can destroy the real, enlarge it, change it'. The exhibition design has been conceived by Caruso St John Architects (architects of Nottingham Contemporary's RIBA Award-winning building), and comprises patterned walls and carpet-topped plinths, as well as interventions by artists Liam Gillick and Karl Holmqvist, and designer Petra Blaisse.

Playful architecture also runs through the art of Pia Camil, whose first UK solo-show will be exhibited in the galleries adjacent to the Haussmanns. Taking inspiration from public spaces, found materials and her native Mexico City, Camil’s interactive textiles form social spaces within the gallery, whilst critiquing consumerism and globalisation. The exhibition comprises textile installations, costumes, ceramic masks, and new commissions including video works, a script and a usable hammock.

Trix and Robert Haussmann are an architect and designer duo based in Zurich. Since founding their General Design Institute in 1967, they have had numerous exhibitions, including shows at Museum für Gestaltung, Zurich, and Kunsthaus Bregenz, Austria. They have realized some 650 projects, including Zurich's main railway station, as well as interiors for boutiques and bars.