Schaudepot

A leading protagonist of Danish modernism, Hans J. Wegner (1914–2007) made himself a name with furniture designs that harmoniously combine rationalist functionalism, a poetic aesthetic, and the Danish tradition of expert joinery. By reinterpreting historical furniture types, Wegner created numerous twentieth-century classics, many of which may be found in the holdings of the Vitra Design Museum. A monographic exhibition in the Schaudepot now shows pieces such as the Wishbone Chair (1950), the Peacock Chair (1948), and the Round Chair (1950) also known simply as »The Chair«. Further artefacts and a number of films offer insights into Wegner’s perfectionist attention to even the smallest details of furniture construction, from ingeniously crafted joints to the properties of different kinds of wood – factors that have contributed to the cult status of Wegner’s furnishings in the resurgence of Scandinavian design.

Museum

Nightclubs and discothèques are hotbeds of contemporary culture. Since the 20th century, they have been centres of the avant-garde that question the established codes of social life and experiment with different realities, merging interior and furniture design, graphics and art with sound, light, fashion and special effects to create a modern Gesamtkunstwerk. »Night Fever. Designing Club Culture 1960 – Today« is the first exhibition to give a comprehensive overview of the design history of the nightclub, examining its cultural context. Examples range from Italian clubs of the 1960s created by the protagonists of Radical Design to the legendary Studio 54 where Andy Warhol was a regular, from the Palladium in New York designed by Arata Isozaki to more recent concepts by the OMA architecture studio for the Ministry of Sound in London. Featuring films and vintage photographs, posters, flyers and fashion, the exhibition incorporates music, light and spatial installations to take visitors on a fascinating journey through a world of glamour and subcultures – always in search of the night that never ends.

Opening: 16.03.2018, 6 pm

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Welcome to the history of furniture design! The Vitra Design Museum’s collection is one of the most significant design collections worldwide. It holds around 20,000 objects, including 7,000 pieces of furniture, over 1,000 lights as well as archives and estates of designers such as Charles and Ray Eames, Verner Panton and Alexander Girard. The Schaudepot makes this precious collection accessible to the public. Over 400 key pieces of furniture design from 1800 to the present day are on display on the ground floor of the main hall. Smaller temporary exhibitions present collectionrelated themes. Details on the items on show can be found in the digital catalogue. The basement provides a look at selected collection highlights such as the estate of Charles and Ray Eames. There you will also find the Schaudepot Lab, where you can learn more about materials, processes and prototypes. As a »transparent design museum«, the Schaudepot provides a comprehensive insight into the history of modern furniture. More

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. More