Vitra Design Museum

With the exhibition »Victor Papanek: The Politics of Design«, running from 29 September 2018 to 10 March 2019, the Vitra Design Museum will present the first large retrospective focussing on the designer, author, and activist Victor J. Papanek (1923–1998). Papanek was one of the twentieth century’s most influential pioneers of a socially and ecologically oriented approach to design beginning in the 1960s. His key work, »Design for the Real World« (1971), remains the most widely read book about design ever published. In it, Papanek makes a plea for inclusion, social justice, and sustainability – themes of greater relevance for today’s design than ever before. The exhibition includes high-value exhibits such as drawings, objects, films, manuscripts, and prints, some of which have never before been presented. These are complemented by works of Papanek’s contemporaries from the 1960s to 1980s, including George Nelson, Richard Buckminster Fuller, Marshall McLuhan, or the radical design initiative »Global Tools«. Contemporary works from the areas of critical and social design provide insight into Papanek’s lasting impact.

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Image:
Key visual for the exhibition
»Victor Papanek: The Politics of Design« by Daniel Streat, Visual Fields
© Vitra Design Museum, 2018 

At the Vitra Schaudepot, which is designed by Herzog & de Meuron, the Vitra Design Museum presents key objects from its extensive collection, creating one of the largest permanent exhibitions and research sites on contemporary furniture design. Today the collection of the Vitra Design Museum encompasses a total of around 20 000 objects, with some 7000 pieces of furniture, more than 1000 lighting objects and numerous archives, as well as the Collection of the Eames Office, or the estates of Verner Panton and Alexander Girard. Although the main museum building by Frank Gehry (1989) was originally conceived to house the collection, the museum utilises the space to stage major temporary exhibitions. The construction of the Schaudepot allows for a permanent presentation of the collection, while offering a diverse educational programme. 

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The Vitra Design Museum Collection – 1800 to the Present

Visitors can experience the Black Box exclusively as part of a public guided tour. Registration: info(at)design-museum.de, max. 10 participants.

The Vitra Campus has a exhibition space: in one of the houses at the southern entrance, a Black Box has been installed which holds the collection of international toy robots belonging to Vitra Chairman Emeritus Rolf Fehlbaum. The presentation encompasses robots and figures of astronauts from the years 1937 to 1968. Many of them bear witness to the technological optimism of an age, when robotics and space travel were still largely fiction. Some of the selected objects are shown with the original packaging, which is often no less spectacular than the artefacts themselves. A number of the robots are seen in motion on video screens, while others are exhibited on turntable displays. The staging of the objects draws the viewer into a dark, minimalist dream world. The exhibition was conceived in collaboration with Fifo Stricker, Rolf Fehlbaum’s friend and fellow collector. Dieter Thiel designed the architecture of the Black Box, and the scenography was developed together with French designer Ronan Bouroullec.

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