Press conference: launch of the new season and temporary exhibitions at Schloss Pillnitz

On 26 April

On 26 April 2024, to launch the new season, the Kunstgewerbemuseum – the museum of decorative arts which forms part of the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden (SKD) – will be presenting a variety of temporary exhibitions from across the spectrum of applied arts. The events featured will be “PURe Visions: plastic furniture between East and West”, a revamp of the show “Plant Fever: Towards a phyto-centred design” which ran in 2023, and a display of porcelain art by Sonngard Marcks. Under the theme “History, Garden and Design” there will be much to discover about the 2024 season at Pillnitz Palace and Park, including exhibitions planned by Staatliche Schlösser, Burgen und Gärten Sachsen gGmbH (SBG).  

PURe Visionen

PURe Visions: plastic furniture between East and West

The focus at the Water Palace will be on polyurethane (PUR) furniture and the little-known but multi-facetted history of design, production and technology transfer between West and East Germany. Supposed icons of “Eastern modernism”, such as the Garden Egg and the Z Chair, were extremely popular in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) during the 1960s and 1970s and for many they still evoke a sense of identity. The exhibition asks how the GDR assimilated and developed polyurethane, what responses there were to the original designs and products and what cultural significance PUR furniture acquired in the definition of individual and social lifestyles. The last section addresses current issues surrounding plastics and efforts to enhance their sustainability in the interests of a closed-loop economy. The presentation in Pillnitz is the prelude to an exhibition tour and in August it will move on to the Museum Utopie und Alltag in Eisenhüttenstadt.

For this show the Kunstgewerbemuseum hopes to survey users and fans of this furniture about these emblematic designs and invites them to share any materials they have, such as photographs taken of or with PUR furniture, postcards, items purchased and personal memories. All these stories, descriptions, memories and photographs can be sent to: kunstgewerbemuseum@skd.museum

More details at: kunstgewerbemuseum.skd.museum/ausstellungen/pure-visionen/

Exhibition dates: 27 April to 7 July 2024

Pflanzenfieber

Plant Fever: Towards a phyto-centred design

Oil-based plastics were a 20th-century design solution tailored to people’s needs. Nowadays they are equated with the plundering and pollution of natural resources in what has become known as the Anthropocene, the geological epoch defined by human activity. Like last year’s exhibition, this edition of “Plant Fever” reflects current trends in design for a new era that celebrates our affinity with our environment. Some 50 projects from all over the world will showcase product design, fashion, new technologies and research and will investigate the hidden potential of collaborating with the plant world. Originally conceived by the curator duo d-o-t-s (Laura Drouet and Olivier Lacrouts) and produced in Belgium by the Centre d’innovation et de design in Le Grand-Hornu, the exhibition has been remodelled for 2024 by the Kunstgewerbemuseum and SBG to incorporate new projects from the DESIGN CAMPUS Summer School in 2023, workshops and guided tours. A special event on 17 May 2024 will consider the question “Nature Has Rights?!”, offering a platform for open, participatory debate about granting people and ecosystems equal rights in law.

Exhibition dates: 27 April to 3 November 2024

Special event “Nature Has Rights?!” (discussion in German): 17 May 2024, 5 pm, Schloss Pillnitz

Sonngard Marcks

Sonngard Marcks: Vive la différence! Biodiversity in Fürstenberg porcelain

The Hillside Palace at Pillnitz will also teem with life and flowers when creatures come crawling and fluttering into the Watteau Hall in all their colourful variety. Sonngard Marcks recently made her table installation to celebrate the 275th anniversary of the Fürstenberg porcelain manufactory. Inspired by the microscopic accuracy of observations around the park at Schloss Fürstenberg, the items created by the ceramic artist skilfully capture beetles, caterpillars, butterflies, flowers and grasses. As an imaginary porcelain ecosystem, this is a handcrafted counterpart to the digital piece “Themis Real Time” by mischer’traxler studio in “Plant Fever”. Both works are artistic statements about the need to protect biodiversity. 

Exhibition dates: 27 April to 3 November 2024

Das Kunstgewerbemuseum lädt

The Kunstgewerbemuseum invites you to a joint press conference with Staatliche Schlösser, Burgen und Gärten Sachsen gGmbH, who will be presenting their exhibition project “Monumental!” – The Painter Ludwig von Hofmann” at Schloss Pillnitz.