The Vitra Design Museum is one of the world's leading design museums. It researches and communicates the history and present of design and relates it to architecture, art and everyday culture. In the main building designed by Frank Gehry, the museum presents two major temporary exhibitions each year, including large solo exhibitions. At the same time, temporary exhibitions are shown in the Vitra Design Museum Gallery, which pursue a contemporary and often experimental approach.
The Vitra Schaudepot by Herzog & de Meuron presents around 400 key objects from its extensive collection, making it one of the world's largest permanent exhibitions and research facilities for modern furniture design. The presentation is supplemented by three to four collection-related temporary exhibitions each year. Many exhibitions are created in collaboration with well-known designers and deal with contemporary themes such as future technologies, sustainability, mobility or social responsibility. Others focus on historical themes or show the complete works of important design personalities.
The Vitra Design Museum's work is based on a collection that includes key pieces of design history as well as several important estates. The museum library and the document archive are available to researchers on request. The museum's exhibitions are conceived as traveling exhibitions and are presented worldwide. On the Vitra Campus, they are complemented by a varied accompanying program of events, guided tours and workshops.
In the Vitra Schaudepot by Herzog & de Meuron, the Vitra Design Museum presents key objects from its extensive collection, creating one of the world's largest permanent exhibitions and research facilities for modern furniture design. The Vitra Design Museum's collection comprises around 20,000 objects, including some 7,000 pieces of furniture, over 1,000 luminaires, numerous archives and the Eames Office collection, as well as the estates of Verner Panton and Alexander Girard. The Vitra Schaudepot was created with the aim of making the constantly growing collection accessible to the public, because although the museum's main building was originally designed by Frank Gehry in 1989 as a collection building, the museum now presents large temporary exhibitions in it. With the construction of the Schaudepot, the collection will be on permanent display and a diverse educational program will be offered at the same time.
Memphis. 40 years of kitsch and elegance
With their garish colors and patterns, the Memphis designs looked like something out of a comic strip and shaped a completely new look that combined pop culture, advertising aesthetics and postmodernism into a wild mix. To mark the 40th anniversary of the group's founding, the exhibition "Memphis. 40 Years of Kitsch and Elegance" at the Vitra Design Museum Gallery provides an insight into the world of Memphis with exhibits such as furniture, lamps, bowls, drawings, sketches and photographs. Among the exhibits are works by Ettore Sottsass, Michele De Lucchi, Martine Bedin, Michael Graves, Barbara Radice, Peter Shire, Nathalie Du Pasquier and Shiro Kuramata.
February 6, 2021 to January 23, 2022
German design 1949-1989
Two countries, one history
Influenced by Bauhaus and Werkbund, German design achieved worldwide significance at the beginning of the 20th century. After 1949, it took a unique course: in the two parts of the divided country, the development of the pre-war period continued under completely different auspices. From March 20 to September 5, 2021, the Vitra Design Museum is presenting the exhibition "German Design 1949-1989: Two Countries, One History", which, more than 30 years after reunification, examines the history of German design in the post-war period for the first time in a major retrospective. It highlights the different living environments on both sides of the Wall, but also the many parallels and cross-references that connected design in East and West.
March 20 to September 5, 2021
New presentation concept in the Vitra Schaudepot
Since its opening in 2016, the Vitra Schaudepot, designed by Herzog & de Meuron, has offered an overview of around 430 key works from the Vitra Design Museum's collection. To mark its fifth anniversary, it is now being given a new presentation concept in which annual thematic focuses create more space for current discourse and changing content. The new concept will start in June 2021 with a focus on female designers from the collection. In this context, female protagonists of modern furniture design will be introduced, new acquisitions by female designers will be presented, important historical documents from the archive will be shown and the selection of key works in the Schaudepot will be enriched with objects by female designers.
June 17, 2021 to May 8, 2022
The Bigger Picture. Women in design 1920 - today
Design emerged as a discipline in its own right in the course of the industrial revolution. To this day, the history of creation and design - much like art and architecture - has mostly focused on male protagonists and their key works. In exhibitions dedicated to female designers, the focus has mainly been on individual female protagonists or the work of women at institutions such as the Bauhaus. In fall 2021, the exhibition "The Bigger Picture" at the Vitra Design Museum will therefore examine the role of women in design and offer a critical overview of the achievements, working conditions and social contexts in which female designers have been active over the past 100 years. The exhibition illustrates the contribution of women to modern and contemporary design, but also questions the fundamental structures of design practice and its historiography. "The Bigger Picture" shows works by Charlotte Perriand, Lilly Reich and Eileen Gray and introduces lesser-known female designers, including Nanda Vigo and Nanna Ditzel. The exhibition also presents contemporary designers such as Marjan van Aubel, Bless and Julia Lohmann.
September 25, 2021 to March 6, 2022
