The Essence of Things. Design and the Art of Reduction
20.03. - 19.09.2010

It is in the nature of human beings to seek the simplest solution. In fact, the idealism of "edle Einfalt” (noble simplicity) and "stille Größe” (quiet grandeur) pre-dates classicism, and the "less is more” principle of modern design has remained a guiding notion through the postmodernist era up to the present.

The exhibition "The Essence of things” illuminates the influences and motifs of a principle whose impact on design transcends time and place. The diversity of this phenomenon is documented in such examples as the legendary Thonet chair No. 14, furniture and product design by Gerrit Rietveld, Le Corbusier, Charles and Ray Eames, Max Bill, Dieter Rams, Shiro Kuramata and Jasper Morrison up to the iPod. In the exhibition, these objects will be complemented by photos from the fields of architecture, fashion and art. Despite all the rationalisation of method and material, concentration on functional essentials and abstraction of shape up to the very disappearance of things, the principle of simplicity demonstrates its great complexity.

Worldwide Sponsor: Hi-Cone





Rudolf Steiner – Alchemy of the Everyday

in cooperation with the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg and the Kunstmuseum Stuttgart

Rudolf Steiner is regarded as one of the most influential – and also one of the most controversial – reformers of the twentieth century.  The exhibition “Rudolf Steiner – Alchemy of the Everyday” is the first major retrospective on this universal thinker and artist.

On display at the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg until Oct. 3 /
at the Vitra Design Museum Sep. 2011