Permanent

Sound of Design

The sound of the ‘Economic Miracle’
Sound of Design. Wirtschaftswunder.
Photo: Die Neue Sammlung (A. Laurenzo)

About the Exhibition

In the 1950s and 1960s many countries experienced a rapid economic upturn. Many new firms surged into the market and with a whole raft of new products vied with one another for customers.

Individual products such as typewriters or cameras were designed and produced in ever greater variations for increasingly precisely defined groups of users. Simultaneously, as electricity networks became more powerful, the increasing diversity of mechanical products was joined by numerous electrical appliances all jostling for a position on the market. From electric razors via electric beaters through to portable radios these penetrated more and more areas of everyday life.

Be it mechanical or electrical, each of these products brought a new sound with it. To coincide with our “Sound of Designˮ Web App we are presenting a selection of appliances from the 1950s and 1960s that stand out for their pioneering design, and whose sounds became characteristic for the epoch.

Plan a visit

Where?

Barer Straße 40, 80333 Munich

Opening hours:

Daily 10:00 – 18:00

Monday closed

Thursday 10:00 – 20:00

App ” Sound of Design”

The Web App itself doesn’t need to be downloaded and can instead simply be opened in your browser:

All readers who would like to dive even further into the “Sound of Design” can listen to Susanne Lettenbauer’s podcast on Deutschlandfunk. Furthermore we refer to the article “Symphonie des Alltags” by Franziska Horn on Spiegel online as well as the article “Klack – schnalz – surr” in the Bayerische Staatszeitung.

FAQs

Curated by:

Caroline Fuchs, Polina Gedova

The app was made possible by the support of:

IKEA

The presentation is supported by:
PIN. Freunde der Pinakothek der Moderne e.V.

The IKEA Foundation logo is light blue. On the left is a filled-in square, on the right the lettering with the two words.
The PIN. logo is brown and large. To the right of the lettering is Freunde der Pinakothek der Moderne e.V: in gray capital letters.