East and West: Czech Design
About the Exhibition
Design items spanning a full nine decades reflect the influences and upheaval that characterized the history of the Czech Republic. The focus is on the avantgarde design of the 1920s and 1930s, on Czech glass in the post-1945 era and on contemporary design.
Alongside the influence of the artists’ cooperative Artěl the ideas of the Bauhaus also came to the fore between 1919 and 1945. Inspired by the new, functionalist style, Czech designers created high-grade tubular steel furniture, luminaires etc. With its centuries-old tradition, Czechoslovakia was renowned for its high-quality glass and was clearly the equal of the Nordic and Italian glass-making centers. From the 1950s onwards a generation of outstanding glass designers reinterpreted traditional cut-glass and engraving, included free painting on glass or sculptural ideas in glass – to this day exemplary instances of innovations.
In the wake of the Velvet Revolution of 1989 Czech design increasingly started to receive international recognition again. Postmodernist designers were very successful – playfully romantic and ironical at once. Works by contemporary industrial designers attest to a highly individual, humorous and at times provocative approach to form and function, whereby they aspire wherever possible to produce things locally.
The display for the presentation Czech Design was designed by the artist Tilo Schulz (born in Leipzig in 1972).
Plan your visit at Neues Museum Nürnberg
Where?
Klarissenplatz, 90402 Nuremberg
Open:
Daily 10 a.m. – 06 p.m.
On Mondays closed
On Thursdays 10 a.m. – 08 p.m.
Curated by:
Angelika Nollert, Xenia Riemann, Josef Straßer
Cooperation:
A joint venture between Neues Museum Nuremberg and Die Neue Sammlung – The Design Museum Munich