The Ulm Model

Despite its short life, The Ulm School of Design pioneered the teaching of design worldwide: the Raven Gallery in London presents a major exhibition.

Raven Row Gallery, “The Ulm Model” exhibition, London, 2016
The Raven Row gallery is presenting “The Ulm Model”, an exhibition on the German school that in few years pioneered an interdisciplinary and systematic approach to design education that soon bacame universal. Curated by Peter Kapos, the exhibition display structures are designed by David Kohn Architects. 
Raven Row Gallery, “The Ulm Model” exhibition, London, 2016
Top: Designer Dieter Rams for Braun, 1959. Photo Marcus J. Leith. Courtesy Braun P&G/Braun Collection, Kronberg. Left: Student Hans (Nick) Roericht, Product Design diploma work, stacking catering service for Rosenthal AG. Photo Wolfgang Siol. Courtesy HfG-Archiv and Ulmer Museum
This is the first exhibition in the UK to represent the achievements of The Ulm School of Design (HfG Ulm, 1953–1968), including the foundation work in drawings and models by the students as well as the radical designs famously commissioned from the school by corporate clients such as Braun and Lufthansa. 
Designers Wilhelm Wagenfeld and Dieter Rams, instructors Hans Gugelot and Otl Aicher, The Ulm Model, 2016
Designers Wilhelm Wagenfeld and Dieter Rams, instructors Hans Gugelot and Otl Aicher, manufacturer Braun, SK 4 Phonosuper, combined audio system, 1956. Photo Marcus J. Leith, courtesy HfG-Archiv/Ulmer Museum
From radiographs and weighing machines to traffic lights, petrol cans, bed frames and kitchenware, the exhibition will gather and correlate objects designed for diverse industries at HfG Ulm. Braun GmbH is providing the exhibition with the last remaining units of their iconic D 55 display structure, designed at the school in 1955 to exhibit its modernist reinvention of Braun’s audio sets.
Raven Row Gallery, “The Ulm Model” exhibition, London, 2016
Student Gerda Müller-Krauspe, instructors Hans Gugelot, Walter Zeischegg and Georg Leowald, Precision balance, Product Design, 1959-60. Photo Wolfgang Siol. Courtesy HfG-Archiv, Ulmer Museum
Design work was mostly collectivised and rationalised, the idea of the designer as intuitive ‘artist’ emphatically rejected, and the designer’s role understood as only one amongst the many specialisms of industrial production. The exhibition suggests that the school continued the projects of the artistic avant-gardes, especially Constructivism, where objects were systematically designed to create ideal social relations.

until 18 December 2016
The Ulm Model
curated by Peter Kapos
Raven Row
56 Artillery Lane, London

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