The gold and silversmiths at the Academy look to the future.
The »Department of jewellery and hollow-ware« at the Academy of Fine Arts and its international network have contributed decisively to Munich’s reputation as one of the leading international centres of jewellery d’auteur. Since 1991 it has been headed by the Swiss goldsmith Professor Otto Künzli.
The students in his department come not only from Germany but from all parts of the world: Korea, Australia, Japan, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, USA … The internationality and diversity emanating from the heterogeneous nature of these cultures and the balance between individuality and sense of community characterise the spirit of this department, one which commands world-wide acclaim.
»We are >proud< to be applied artists in the sense that we see our strength in the specific link between objects and humans, a feature which is quite unique to jewellery« This is how Otto Künzli formulates one of his central theses.
Jewellery at the Munich Art Academy follows the great tradition of the »Department of jewellery and hollow-ware« and its former Professors Franz Rickert (1904-1991), Head of Department from 1935 onwards, and Hermann Jünger (1928-2005) who held the chair from 1972 to 1990. It is also embodied by the current head Otto Künzli (born in Zürich in 1948) who took over the post in 1991.

However, the exhibition of Die Neue Sammlung – State Museum of the Applied Arts | Design in the Pinakothek der Moderne – has deliberately chosen to take a contemporary focus to mark the Academy’s 200th anniversary.

The exhibition has been organised by the students themselves and continues the line of unusual and imaginative shows held annually by the Academy which have long enjoyed »cult status«.
On display are not only the works of current Künzli students but also those of others who studied under him. All in all, the show presents some 80 artists and 400 exhibits.

Accompanying the exhibition is a comprehensive publication with more than 1.000 illustrations, an introduction by Maribel Königer and essays by Otto Künzli et al. The history of the Rickert-Jünger-Künzli era is reflected in the biographies and bibliographies of the department’s students from 1935 to the present day, which comprise the lexicon section of the publication.
In English and German. Design: Frederik Linke, Zurich.