minimal funktional

The artists engaged in minimalist, reduced aesthetics—from Josef Albers’ time as a lecturer at the Bauhaus in the 1920s through to contemporary positions, from Franz Erhard Walther or Martin Boyce—have always worked on the transfer of their rigorous artistic concepts to the applied arts. These ‘transfers’ between fine art and applied arts can be practically applicable, but might as well just ask for an imaginative, associative and playful ‘use’.

The exhibition at Museum im Kulturspeicher (Würzburg) abstains from simply juxtaposing Art and Design, in order to focus on artists from the Mercedes-Benz Art Collection who have been working parallel in both areas. Aspects of Applied Art are represented with examples from the fields of architecture, graphic design, brands and logos as well as furniture design. The exhibition survey is spanning from early works by Josef Albers and Arakawa/Gins to contemporary positions such as Andrea Zittel, Heimo Zobernig or Leonor Antunes. In addition to the works by around 25 artists, the show brings together iconic design works by Gerrit Rietveld, Herbert Krenchel, Charles Eames and Konstantin Grcic.