I follow, time and again, how major design collections choose to present themselves when a significant anniversary comes around. It is never simply a matter of the number of pieces on display, but of critical perspective: which criterion drives the selection, which idea of design culture is brought to light against an entire century of objects, materials and languages. It is a subject I find compelling, because it touches directly on the ability to reinterpret an archive with new tools, restoring vision without betraying its original substance.
To mark the centenary of the Neue Sammlung, the design museum housed within the Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich tells one hundred years of its collection through one hundred objects, brought together in the exhibition 100 Jahre – 100 Objekte. The selection does not follow the chronological order in which the pieces were created, but the order in which they entered the collection: a criterion that shifts attention away from the object itself and toward the moment it was recognised as significant. It is a curatorial choice that turns the archive into a narrative of continuous discovery, in which iconic pieces surface alongside treasures never previously exhibited. Among the works on show is the S-Chair, designed in 1938 by Eileen Gray, an example of how formal research anticipated languages that would only become central decades later. The exhibition path, designed for a visit of roughly one hour, invites reflection on which trends and influences shaped acquisition choices over time, offering a reading of design culture that is at once historical and strikingly current. More than a nostalgic celebration, the operation stands as an exercise in vision fuelled by curiosity and rigour: putting a heritage back into circulation means questioning it with new tools, and it is precisely in this exercise of rereading that an institution’s capacity to remain relevant in the present is measured.
Menu
