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The Neues Museum Nürnberg shows art and design from surprising angles in the exhibition Double Up!.
left: Trix and Robert Haussmann, chest of drawers “Säulenstumpf (Lehrstück 2)”, c. 1978, Röthlisberger AG, Gümligen, Switzerland; right: Tony Cragg, “Elliptical Column” (2001), © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn for Tony Cragg, photo right: Neues Museum (Annette Kradisch)

Whether design emerges from art if it is only applied correctly or, on the contrary, purpose-free individual pieces and usable serial objects are to be considered separate from each other in many respects has long been a subject of debate. Among other things, this has led to art and design being presented in museums mostly separately from each other and without reference to each other – apart from a few exceptions. One of these is the Neues Museum Nürnberg. Since 1999, art and design from the 1950s to the present have been presented there side by side on an equal footing on more than 3,000 m² of collection and exhibition space, with design being looked after by the Neue Sammlung in Munich.

With the refurbishment of the ground floor of the building designed by Volker Staab, the dialogue will continue from 20 May onwards under the title “Double Up!” from a different angle. In an exhibition architecture by Martin Kinzlmaier, which conceives of the rooms as a unity of art and design, the two are to meet, complement each other and double the different perspectives on a theme. “Objects, sculptures, photographs, paintings, furniture, ceramics and textiles,” says the announcement, “correspond with each other and describe new contents. Each room offers aesthetic references as well as links to content.” All that is needed to trigger the dialogues is the right keywords: “This can be the colour red just as well as the shape of columns and towers.” There are also kitchen conversations, inspired by a kitchen unit by Le Corbusier and Charlotte Perriand, as well as ceramics by Lotte Reimers, which meet indigenous Australian art.

Rooms with an interactive installation, photographs and design classics also invite visitors to rest, meet and exchange ideas. And the mobile artwork “Instant Housing Trailer WBF-170/4 0 0” by the Nuremberg artist Winfried Baumann is available as a meeting point, workshop, stage and space for performative, participative and artistic work.


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