The sounds design objects make are often just as characteristic as their design. And so from 21 February, 2019 visitors will able to listen to the sounds of various exhibition items from our collection thanks to the web-app Sound of Design. Using mobile devices or their home computers they will be able to delve into the world of design noises. Sounds range from historical telephones via the engine noises of iconic cars through to the clacking of a keyboard. We are adding sounds to our collection so as to integrate this acoustic dimension of our exhibition items into our presentation – above all with a view to the planned display area. By publishing this archive in our Web-app it will form part of the multimedia experience visitors can enjoy while also infusing life into objects that might otherwise seem remote museum pieces. By way of introducing Sound of Design we are launching a topical focus on the era of the German economic miracle (1950s/1960s), in which new electrical devices and with them diverse sounds entered people’s everyday lives.
Following the acquisition in 2018 of ‘Grodenstraße nach Varelerhafen’ (Polder Road to Varel Harbour), dating from 1938, the Sammlung Moderne Kunst is staging an exhibition on Franz Radziwill, one of the most important representatives of Magic Realism. The focus is on his Expressionist early work as a continuation of the ‘Brücke’, as well as on his involvement with the Nazi regime – between conformity and defamation as a ‘degenerate’ artist. One of Radziwill’s canvases, painted on both the front and back, is being exhibited for the first time showing both sides, to highlight the break between an Expressionist early work and a principal work of Magic Realism.