The exhibition Victor Papanek – The Politics of Design currently taking place at the Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein focuses on showcasing the inspirations, ideas and works of one of the fiercest critics of Industrial Design. His observations are still relevant today, 20 years after his death, in an age where endless consumerism and a throwaway society encourage people to design unnecessary needs instead of solutions to existing problems.
When entering the exhibition space, one is first introduced to these themes via film segments and an overlying audio narration. In the back of the room a compilation of people who either influenced or critisized Papanek as well as his pupils allows for a first impression of his life’s legacy. The next room then highlights important dates, his ideas and achievements in context with major events such as the Vietnam War and the first World Earth Day. His books are displayed in the middle of the room to invite visitors to browse and read them. After that, product designs and advertising campaigns, either by Papanek himself or influenced by his concepts and ideas, are displayed in cubicles. The last room showcases projects focusing on design solutions for current and future problems, a sum of the legacy of Papanek’s concepts.
Generally, each room is designed to invite the visitor to explore the exhibits at his or her own pace. Since the space in total is rather small, quite a lot of information is crowded as efficiently as possible, leaving it to each person to explore whatever catches their interest. Various media are used to give a full view of Papanek’s life such as film, texts, photographies, illustrations, sketches, audio excerpts and objects. The objects themselves are either only for display, can be picked up and touched, or are installed in the room for a 3D experience.
The exhibition was mostly empty while we enjoyed a guided tour with an overview of why and how the exhibition was put up this way and a short introduction to Papanek’s life. Our guide invited us to discuss his work and explore the exhibition afterwards. His work turned out to be a conversation starter for relating it to current design trends, problems and so forth. Issues such as impacts on the environment, consumerism, sustainable design, design problems and solutions, Do-it-yourself concepts and more were as relevant then as they are now and the parallels to today’s problems become shockingly evident in the exhibition.
The Politics of Design uses depth of information with invitations for interactions to inspire visitors to question the purpose of design in today’s context. A look at the past as well as the future shows that while we have advanced on various issues, there are many still persisting today. While the exhibition mainly focuses on inviting visitors to interact with Papanek’s works and ideas, it serves as a starting point to question where we are today and where to go next.
This is a good description of the exhibit but you have not yet addressed any specific interaction, either the one you are having with the exhibit or the ones you witness, for example, by observing others in this space. How did you interact with this environment, this exhibit? How did the others go about, enter into the space and into the issues/topics?