Category: Art

Nichts. Riens. Nothing.

Posted on by Eingang Gewerk

Museum of Communication Bern, Switzerland

Exhibition Poster

Background

The exhibition project “Nichts. Riens. Nothing” takes on nothing. Objects, stories, films, illusionary spaces, waiting rooms, and moments of surprise are association with this term by integrating everyday observations and situations into the exhibition space. As part of a broad-based research for the exhibition, the exhibits were compiled during a series of workshops and subsequently distributed across the 6 areas of the exhibition: 1_A lot of Nothing. 2_The Waiting Room. 3_ Nothing for You. 4_ All this Nothing. 5_ Constructing Nothing. 6_ Cinema Stage.

A particular challenge for gewerkdesign was to conceive and implement nothing graphically and spatially. The exhibition architecture is not visible at first glance. It aligns with the framework of the museum, supplementing it with additional windows, pillars, and doors. A so-called trilingual transponder invisibly and magically guides the visitors through the exhibition set, leading to a show of actors staging bizarre encounters. Nothing more.

Furthermore, the exhibition is designed to be sustainable. Its individual elements were economically produced, minimising the overall consumption of resources. Wall panelling, old wine crates, cardboard tubes were recycled from previous exhibitions. The graphics were mainly printed on paper in order to minimise the use of plastic and composite materials.

Portfolio /Range of Services: Workshop conception and content, exhibition design and exhibition architecture, exhibition and media graphics, communication design, production monitoring

Details

• Opening: 9 November 2023
• Where: Museum of Communication FBern, Switzerland
• Client: Museum of Communication FBern, Switzerland
• ca. 650 m²

Related Projects

• Out of Office, Hamburg
• The future quality of living, FHamburg
• Riots + New Beginnings, Bremen

Process

Team

• Jens Imig
• Antoine Laurent
• Bianca Mohr
• Birgit Schlegel
• Gabriel Tecklenburg

Photography:
• gewerkdesign

Interactive Content System:
• iart– Studio für mediale Architekturen, Basel

Multimedia:
• Jean First
• Zita Bauer
• Alexandra Heini
• Kurt Stadelmann
• Franz Szekeres

Film:
• Sibylle Heiniger

Graphics, Layout & Typesetting:
• gewerkdesign

Exhibition Production:
• Patrik Ammann
• Daniel Bucheli
• Arjen Damen
• Giacomo Feurich
• Jean First
• Aurelio Galfetti
• Urs Hochuli
• Coline Jud
• Gratschi Josef Jud
• Theo Kämpfer
• Stefan Käsermann
• Basil Kraus
• Andreas Manecke
• Erich Marty
• Timo Müller
• Stefan Schmidlin
• Jan Stadelmann
• Roland Steiner
• Andri von Moos
• Paul von Moos
• Ueli Zingg

The Whole Estate a Garden – House of the Princess

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House of the Princess, Wörlitz

Bust of Princess Louise of Anhalt-Dessau by Bartolomeo Cavaceppi

Background

The House of the Princess, also known as the “Grey House,” is the planned exhibition center of the Dessau-Wörlitz Cultural Foundation and is currently undergoing extensive modernization measures. Built in 1789/90 in neo-Gothic style, the building was once the retreat and private residence of Princess Louise Henriette Wilhelmine (1750-1811), the wife of Prince Leopold III Friedrich Franz of Anhalt-Dessau. The so-called Garden Kingdom of Dessau-Wörlitz, with its English-style landscaping, spacious parks and buildings, has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2000 and is now also a subject of the planned permanent exhibition, which invites visitors to discover and explore this unique landscape.

The focus of the exhibition, however, is on Princess Louise and her impressive art collection, which not only provides information about her accomplished understanding of art, but also bears witness to her humanistic education and connoisseurship of Enlightenment discourses of her time. Numerous exhibits, such as written correspondence with influential friends and artists as well as the collected works of art itself document her rich intellectual and social life. She was friends with artist Angelika Kauffmann, who even portrayed her. The exhibition also shows high-quality facsimiles of important architecture and works of art from the cosmos of Prince Franz and his cultural circle, which also included Johann Joachim Winckelmann and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

Intended for the entire year after the opening of the house and the winter months, which are not reserved for special exhibitions, the exhibition design conceived by gewerkdesign is based on the principles of the greatest possible flexibility and mobility while maintaining an adequate standard of exhibit presentation.
In addition to a simple guidance system, compact exhibition furniture, slide boxes and trolleys for exhibits were developed, which guarantee a smooth dismantling of the exhibition and at the same time function as depot architectures, which allow storage according to highest conservation requirements. The graphic, material and color concept pick up on the color schemes of the house from the construction period and reflect the feudal style of the princesses’ domicile in a contemporary staging. A web-based app, that also features an audio guide, explains the exhibition content optionally in a child-friendly format as well as for adults and provides further information in German and English. The app was developed by gewerkdesign in collaboration with the Berlin design agency Kulturbanause.

Portfolio / Range of Services:

Exhibition design and planning, exhibition graphics, media graphics, production of exhibition production, exhibition booklet, concept development for the display, implementation planning, app development, general contractor

Details

• Opening: August 14, 2023
• Where: House of the princess, Garden Kingdom of Dessau-Wörlitz
• Client: Dessau-Wörlitz Cultural Foundation
• Size: 1.000 m²

Similar Projects

• Georgium Palace, Dessau
• JMB on.tour, nationwide
• The Mobile Museum, all 53 district and independent cities of North-Rhine-Westphalia
• Eutin Castle, Eutin

Design Process

Team

• Jens Imig
• Costanza Rossi
• Marlene Schaefermeyer
• Birgit Schlegel

Production and Mounting
– Team Falko Riepe
– Team Rost (printing)
– Team Karo König (frame construction)
– Team Artavi (media)

App Development
• Team Kulturbanause Berlin

Photography
• gewerkdesign

Establishment of Georgium Palace as the museum of the Anhalt Painting Gallery

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Georgium Palace, Anhalt Picture Gallery, <b>Dessau-Roßlau</b>

Dutch cabinet from the 17th Century

Background

Georgium Palace in Dessau has not always accommodated the Anhalt Painting Gallery. It only moved into the palace in 1959, after being housed in the Palais Reina in Dessau, which was destroyed in the war. The history of the palace and that of the painting collection could not be more different: here a palace, first built as a small summer palace for Prince Johann Georg von Anhalt-Dessau (who gave the Palace its name) and intended for private living, there a collection that grew together from several estates into a great treasure for Dessau as a public collection.

When it was decided to modernize Schloss Georgium and adapt it to the current standards of a painting gallery, gewerkdesign was brought in as a consulting partner for the gallery’s refurbishment in 2014. The result is a museum concept that divides the three levels of the building into different usage concepts: On the first floor, functional rooms such as the checkroom, toilets, a lecture hall and reception await the visitors supplemented by a “historical tour” through the history of the house, the Georgen-garden and the history of the collection. The main part of the painting collection will be exhibited on the 1st floor, while graphic works will hang mainly in the mezzanine. In order to keep the hanging of the paintings in the landmark castle flexible, colored wear walls have been hung on the existing walls, which slow down the climate change from the exterior to the interior and protect the paintings by providing a stable temperature. The furniture of the house is part of a series designed by gewerkdesign. The substructure made of delicately processed metal as well as the colored upholstery of the seats takes up the historical furnishing of the house.

A minimalist sign system guides the way through the house. The thematic division of the rooms is also designed in a restrained manner; the paintings are to be the focus. Each room is given a lettering of the respective period in milled letters. Information on the artistic works can be obtained by the visitors from object signs, which are mounted underneath the wear walls. This ensures the greatest possible auratic effect of the paintings in interaction with the color scheme of the walls surrounding them. The thematic rooms on the ground floor have been equipped with media tables. Interactive stations and hands-on exhibits invite active participation. The corporate design with a strong signet and word brand in black on white or yellow leaves room for the great collection. In the future, further information about the castle and the collection will be available individually via a web-based app.

Portfolio / Range of Services:

Design and consulting of exhibition architecture and utilization concept, design and planning of thematic rooms, execution planning, exhibition production, project management, hands-on development (media) and production, exhibition graphics, guidance system in the castle, corporate design, design web and webAPP

Details

– Opening: expected in autumn 2022
– Location: Georgium Palace, Anhalt Painting Gallery, Dessau
– Client: Foundation, Office for Culture Dessau-Roßlau
– Size: 1.989 m²

Design Process

Team

• Jens Imig
• Bianca Mohr
• Birgit Schlegel
• Carsten Saalmann
• Thilo Albers
• Julia Junghähnel
• Jens H. Lohmann
• Michael Lorenz, Graphscape (cashier system, media, website)
• Claudia Wagner, vogelfrei-design (illustrations)

Exhibition production and mounting
• Gemelo GmbH (media)
• Tischlerei Carsten Gräubig
• Rost Werbetechnik (print)
• Joseph Hirsch (metal signs)
• Büchner Möbel (furniture)
• Team Falko Riepe (wear walls)
• Janusz Kruszewski (model)
• Paul Göschel (light)

Architecture
• cuboidoo architects BDA

Photography
• Christoph Musiol

Atlas – Art project by Aris Fioretos, sound artist Peter Imig & gewerkdesign

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Moderna Museet Stockholm

Atlas carrying a cloud

Background

»Atlas« is a three-dimensional cosmos, an imaginary world of literature. »Atlas« is an extensive work of art in the form of a book. The project is a cooperation between the Swedish writer Aris Fioretos and the design company gewerkdesign. Additionally, 24 selected chapters of Fioretos’ book were translated into sound collages by the musician Peter Imig. The project examines how events from history can be converted into stories, how fiction can become a fact. Evidence and prose, insight and argument are being intertwined into something resembling a pair of rolled-up socks, of which Walter Benjamin once said, that their form and content couldn’t be separated from one another. The elaborate book as well as the illustrations of the numerous protagonists were designed by gewerkdesign.

Portfolio / Range of Services
Exhibition design and planning, implementation planning, general contractor, concept development for the display, exhibition production, project management, exhibition graphics, sound production and sound installation, logistics and transport

Details

• Opening: 25. October 2019
• Where: Moderna Museet, FStockholm
• Material: wood pulp, finnboard and Fpaper, beechwood, wood glue, Felectronic elements
• 75 m²

Related projects

• Aris Fioretos: Mary, book design
• As long as I’m alive death won’t get Fme, book design
• Flight and Metamorphosis, Nelly FSachs, catalogue and print design

Design process

Team

• Katharina Erben
• Jens Imig
• Peter Imig
• Takaya Kobayashi
• Birgit Schlegel
• Alexandra Zackiewicz

Production and mounting
• Jörgen Pisarz
• Riccardo Falletta
• Aufbauteam Moderna Museet

Photography
• gewerkdesign

100! – Universität Hamburg Past and Present

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  • Foto: Karin Plessing u. Reinhard Scheiblich, Hamburg

Main hall at the Universität Hamburg

Holy scripture of the Sikh religion from the department of culture and history of India

Background

The University of Hamburg is celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2019. Honouring this anniversary, a 300 square metre permanent exhibition about the scientific institution’s eventful past was put on display at the university museum’s main building. The exhibition approaches the past and present of the university in two different ways: on the one hand through a timeline with many previously unpublished photographs of everyday university life. In addition to this, numerous thematic displays present the topic from a different angle. Exhibits from the university’s different departments bear witness to the many different aspects of university life. An interactive column in front of the main hall welcomes the visitors with a sound collage assembled from 100 years of the university’s history. The exhibition itself also is interactive: the visitors can influence exhibits, people, and sounds from the university presented to them via sensors. A media guide supplements the exhibits and exhibition texts, offering a digital tour and a plethora of background material. gewerkdesign won the design competition for design and the mounting of the exhibition as well as the design of the exhibition catalogue.

Portfolio / Range of Services
Exhibition design and planning, planning of the statutory approvals, implementation planning, preparation/participation in the commissioning process, design, concept development for the display, exhibition production, exhibition graphics, graphics exhibition catalogue

Details

• Opening: 24. September 2019
• Where: University Museum FHamburg
• Client: Universität Hamburg
• 350m²

Related projects

• ZBW – “Open Up!”, Kiel
• Out Of Office, Hamburg
• Sugars and Beyond!, Berlin

Design process

Team

• Jens Imig
• Riccardo Falletta
• Bianca Mohr
• Costanza Rossi
• Birgit Schlegel
• Franziska Schuh
• Claudia Wagner
• Alexandra Zackiewicz

Media and programming
• Jörgen Pisarz, artavi

Photography
• gewerkdesign

New Bauhaus Chicago: Experimental Photography and Film

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  • © Bauhaus-Archiv Berlin, Hans Glave

Bauhaus-Archiv, Berlin

Plastics, colours, and transparencies

Background

To show the »New Bauhaus Chicago« school’s creativity and keenness to experiment was the exhibition design’s primary objective. The entrance to the exhibition makes reference to one of the institute’s most important tools: designed like a bellows camera, a darkened hallway calmly introduces the visitors to the »New Bauhaus Chicago’s « programme. The seclusion and the special lighting add to the concentrated atmosphere. Like a camera, the entrance gate leads to a large film projection. From there the visitors enter a wide open space – exuberant with lively motion. Here the protagonists and their films and photographic works are paramount. The architecture follows the design of the »New Bauhaus« and plays with its materials, colours, and motives. The exhibition design repeats the transparencies, reflections, and colourful plastics often used in its experimental films and photographs. One of these design elements is »blurriness«: resulting from a lack of technical possibilities at the time or the learning process itself, blurriness is a defining feature of many exhibits. The design quotes this blurriness and actively enhances it. The coarse grid in print graphics translates it into a coherent visual language. Combined with luminous typography and film projections floating in the room, the different elements merge into a diverse and translucent landscape. A colouring concept organizes the different impressions. The visitors can either relax in one of the chairs and contemplate on a detail or allow themselves to be engrossed by the buzzing blur of the ensemble.

Portfolio / Range of Services: Joint conception, exhibition design, exhibition scenography, exhibition graphics, media design, planning concept, supervision and budget planning of the production, services 1-9 Hoai

Details

• Opening: 15. November 2017
• Where: Bauhaus-Archiv, Berlin
• Client: Bauhaus-Archiv e.V.
• 570 m²

Related projects

• Goodbye & Hello, Bern

Design process

Team

• Jens Imig
• Birgit Schlegel
• Bianca Mohr
• Marie-Luise Uhle

Promotional film / Media
• Larissa Blau
• Peter Imig

Photography
• Bauhaus-Archiv Berlin, Hans Glave

Cranach the Younger – Discovery of a Master

Posted on by Henning

Augusteum, Wittenberg

Cranach’s signature 1514

Background

On the 500th anniversary of his birth in 2017, this special exhibition dedicated to Lucas Cranach the Younger offers an exclusive impression of his highly productive workshop and art enterprise.

Distributed across two floors the exhibition presents »The Cranach Family, »Father and Sons«, »Brück and Melanchton«, »The Workshop«, »Employed by the House of Ernestine«, »Image-Campagne«, »Success (Adam and Eve)«, »Offices and Business«, »The Drawing«, »Networking In and Around Wittenberg«, »Images of Faith vs. Society Portraits« and »Paintings from Reims«.

Introducing a system of mobile exhibition walls and separate climate-controlled display cases, the exhibition also provides the basic equipment for furnishing future exhibitions in the Augusteum in Wittenberg.

Portfolio / Range of Services: exhibition design, scenography, lighting concept, graphic design, planning concept, supervision of the production, services 1- 9 HOAI

Details

• Opening: 26. June 2015
• Augusteum, Wittenberg
• Client: Luther Memorial
FFoundation of Saxony-Anhalt
• 900 m²

Related projects

• The enterprise of opera –
Fverdi. boito. ricordi.
• Friederisiko. Frederick
Fthe great
• Prussia & Saxony – Scenes
Ffrom a relationship between
Fneighbours

Design process

Team

• Jens Imig
• Birgit Schlegel
• Thilo Albers
• Christian Hoffmann
• Christine Ringer
• Carsten Saalmann

Multimedia
• Daniel Finke and Andreas Dihm

Photography
• Werner Huthmacher

Focke Museum – Masterplan

Posted on by Henning

Focke Museum 1960, Bremen

Background

The Bremen State Museum for Art and Cultural History has been one of gewerkdesign’s clients since 1995 and has issued several special exhibitions, permanent exhibitions and general measurements like signage, a media guide and a reception desk.

Among these projects was the design of the permanent exhibition of the »Archeological Laboratory at the Eichenhof« in 2011. For this project, data about the archeological finds were transferred to a database. Visitors were able to access this data when standing in front of the exhibits.

In 2013, gewerkdesign created a media guide which compiles all data from the Bremen State Museum for Art and Cultural History in an audio-visual presentation.

In 2015, gewerkdesign and the museum’s employees wrote the »Masterplan Focke #Bremen«, a study that describes, prepares and interprets the next five years of development for the Focke Museum. It focusses on the enlargement and remodelling of the permanent exhibition as well as the museum’s new profile. A shortened version of the study was presented to Lower Saxony’s government officials.

Portfolio / Range of Services: exhibition design and implementation, approval planning, implementation planning, preparation and participation in the commissioning process, planning of the exhibits’ presentation, production, signage, project management and consulting project development, graphic design of the exhibition and the accompanying booklet, media design and planning

Details

• First Opening: 1987
• Focke Museum Bremen
• Client: Foundation of the
FFocke-Museum, Bremen
FState Museum for Art and
FCultural History
• 900 m²

Related projects

• Karibu Afrika
• Didaktik trifft Gestalt –
FWald. Berlin. Klima.
• Museum Wolfenbüttel –
FStrukturwandel

Design Process

Team

• Jens Imig
• Tania und Sebastian Büsching
• Klaus Fermor
• Nanna Funke
• Christian Hoffmann
• Christine Kitta
• Rita Rentzsch
• Steffen Sendelbach
• Haleh Najafi-Shoushtari

Cooperation
• Thomas Köstlin, Exponatus
• Architekturbüro Ulrich Ruwe

Photography
• gewerkdesign
• Christoph Musiol
• Focke-Museum

Maritime Museum Unterweser – Elsfleth House and Telegraph

Posted on by Henning

Villa Steeken / Haus Elsfleth, Elsfleth

Telegraph <b>Brake</b>

Background

The Maritime Museum Unterweser is one of the oldest museums in Lower Saxony. Between 2010 and 2014 together with regional architects gewerkdesign remodelled two of the three museum’s sites preparing Elsfleth House and Brake’s former telegraph station for exhibitions.

In Brake’s former telegraph station life aboard a 19th century whaler is depicted, presenting art objects made by the sailors themselves as well as exotic souvenirs from all over the world.

Elsfleeth House focusses on the history of shipbuilding and the shipping business, portraying Germany’s biggest naval college, nautical navigation and female seafaring.

gewerkdesign’s designs abstractly recreate places from the stories told in the exhibition, for instance a shipbuilder’s workshop, the bridge of a ship or the office of a shipping company.

Portfolio / Range of Services: exhibition design and implementation, approval planning, implementation planning, preparation and participation in the commissioning process, planning of the exhibits’ presentation, production, signage, project management and consulting project development, graphic design of the exhibition and the accompanying booklet, media design and planning

Details

• Opening Elsfleth House:
FMarch 2010
• Villa Steeken in Elsfleth
• Client: Maritime Museum
FOldenburgische Unterweser e.V.
• 1,100 m2

• Opening Telegraph Brake:
F12 September 2014
• Brake Telegraph
• Client: Maritime Museum
FOldenburgische Unterweser e.V.
• 350 m2

Related projects

• TabakCollegium – Oranienbaum
• World heritage –
FVisitor centre Wismar

Design process

Team

• Jens Imig
• Tania Büsching
• Klaus Fermor
• Christian Hoffmann
• Haleh Najafi-Shoushtari
• Rita Rentzsch
• Steffen Sendelbach
• Tania Sívertsen
• Marten Suhr
• Gabriel Tecklenburg
• Ann-Christin Warntjen

Metallarbeiten
• Paul Klier

Siebdruck
• Ulrich Novak

Fotografie
• Christoph Musiol
• gewerkdesign