04.02.2005 to 12.06.2005
The Academy of Design, Ulm, was founded in 1953 by Inge Scholl, Otl Aicher and Max Bill. During its early life, up to 1968, it was one of the most important contemporary schools of design, attracting students from all over the world. The specific methodology of the academy known as the 'ulm model' has shaped design education internationally.
The exhibition focuses on the 'ulm model', which features the close connection of theory and practice. The school is still noted for radio and telephonic equipment developed for the Braun company. Among the best known of its models is the SK 4, designed in 1956 by Dieter Rams and Hans Gugelot, which made design-history as 'Snow White's coffin'. The visual corporate identity of the German company Lufthansa - mainly designed by Otl Aicher in 1962-3 - also a representative of the 'ulm model'.
These classics of design are presented together with exemplary works from the Archive of the Academy of Design. Student projects which were overseen by graduates of the Academy - and are therefore 'models according to ulm' - document the continuing topicality of the methodology developed in Ulm.
The exhibition was conceived in 2003 by the Ulm Museum/HfG-Archive in co-operation with the Stadthaus Ulm. It was designed by the architect Hans Dieter Schaal. Accompanying the exhibition is a book published by the Hantje Cantz Verlag (28 Euro).
