As an icon of German products the VS wooden-skid chair took its place last year in the art exhibition "Invisible Things" at the "Today Art Museum" in Beijing. Now the fascinating show is coming to Germany. The Museum für Völkerkunde in Hamburg is showing from 18 May to 23 November “Invisible Things – Typically Chinese. Typically German.”
In 2013 the “Today Art Museum” in Beijing/China presented a unique exhibition: “Invisible Things” were made visible there between 3 and 15 July 2013. But, contrary to the tagline, the exhibition did not feature empty showcases at all. Instead, visitors were confronted by objects we encounter in our everyday lives which are ubiquitous and have become indispensable – and for this reason have been forgotten and thus become invisible.
The two organisers Dr Daniel Arnold, CEO of “Deutsche Reihenhaus AG”, and Wu Xuefu, Professor of Art and Design at the “Communication University of China”, pointed the spotlight at “forgotten” everyday objects of two presumably so contrasting cultures: here the “Mensch ärgere dich nicht!” board game met Mahjong, Nivea creme met tiger balsam, the garden gnome met the golden waving cat; in short, German cultural artefacts met their Chinese counterparts.
And in the middle of it all: the wooden-skid chair from VS. It made it as one of only 25 typical German products into the most important private art museum in Asia - and there it found itself in good company with among others coarse wholemeal bread, wood-chip wallpaper and the recorder.
From 18 May to 23 November 2014 the exhibition is now showing under the name “Invisible Things – Typically Chinese. Typically German.” at the Museum für Völkerkunde (Museum of Ethnology) in Hamburg.
Here too our classic school chair is on show again. It was chosen to represent the particularities of German culture and German aesthetics in everyday life and thus goes a little way to promoting Sino-German understanding.
Exhibitions runs: 18 May – 23 November 2014
Launch party: 18 May 2014
Museum für Völkerkunde
Rothenbaumchaussee 64
D-20148 Hamburg
Curators:
Wu Xuefu, Martin Rendel, Dr. Réné Spitz
HERE to the event website (only in german).
