“PA-DONG! The Furniture of Susi and Ueli Berger” at Museum für Gestaltung Zürich, Toni-Areal
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The Museum fur Gestaltung Zurich is showcasing some of Susi and Ueli Berger’s iconic designs in the exhibition “PA-DONG! The Furniture of Susi and Ueli Berger” that will run through August 19.The show features mass-produced furniture and prototypes alon
“PA-DONG! The Furniture of Susi and Ueli Berger” at Museum für Gestaltung Zürich, Toni-Areal
The Museum fur Gestaltung Zurich is showcasing some of Susi and Ueli Berger’s iconic designs in the exhibition “PA-DONG! The Furniture of Susi and Ueli Berger” that will run through August 19.The show features mass-produced furniture and prototypes along with drawings, photos, and models from the Bergers’ archive. These were donated to the museum’s collection. The works on display examine how alphabets, comics, and figures of speech along with other elements were incorporated in their designs.“For over forty years, the graphic designer Susi Berger-Wyss and the artist Ueli Berger designed furniture together. Around 1967, the couple departed from the beaten paths of modernism and began to question the design principles of ‘Gute Form,’” the museum says. “Susi and Ueli Berger shaped a new understanding of design between object art and everyday culture, rationality, and sensuality. Their revolutionary Soft Chair, 5-Minuten-Stuhl, Wolkenlampe, and Fachermann demonstrate that in the 1970s and 1980s there was a playful, graphic counterpart to the minimalist tradition in the design-centric country of Switzerland.”“PA-DONG!” focuses on the designers collaborations on furniture. They had a diverse body of work comprising not only design but also illustrations, art projects, and designs for playgrounds and public spaces. A diverse array of elements made up their source of inspiration starting from Pop Art, high and low culture, new ways of living, to Buddhism, Ettore Sottsass, and old masters and pioneers of Italian design. Architects such as Le Corbusier and Buckminster Fuller as well as artists such as Constantin Brancusi, Dieter Roth, and Marcel Duchamp also played a role in their design process. “They created their furniture designs through a personal dialogue spanning the disciplines of art and design. This made it possible to completely rethink the chair, the table, or the shelf and to leave the beaten paths of modernism behind,” the museum adds.Their designs reflect wordplay, mental associations, or formal analogies which are revealed on close examinations. “This is referenced by the comic sound ‘PA-DONG!’ in the exhibition title. And once one realizes that the STUHL chair is made up of the letters S, T, U, H, and L (which spell the German word for ‘chair’), one can see the materialized movements of a martial artist in the Kung Fu Shelf, a comic sketch in the cloud lamp, and a forerunner to Droog designer Tejo Remy’s Chest of Drawers in the Stack of Drawers,” the museum writes.The Bergers’ furniture is more than just aesthetically pleasing or functional in nature. They are a combination of symbols, new materials, and new techniques that offers a witty critique of tradition.“PA-DONG! The Furniture of Susi and Ueli Berger” runs from June 29 through August 19, 2018, at Museum fur Gestaltung Zurich, Toni-Areal, Pfingstweidstrasse 96, 8005 Zurich, Switzerland.For details, visit: For details, visit: http://admin.blouinartinfo.com/galleryguide/755842/755840/home-overviewClick on the slideshow for a sneak peek of the exhibition.http://www.blouinartinfo.comFounder: Louise Blouin Read more
