MUNICH.- Acclaimed international designer Konstantin Grcic (born 1965 in Munich, where he now lives) is kicking off a new exhibition format at Die Neue Sammlung: From 2015 onwards, each year leading figures in design will be invited to devise a characteristic and site-specific presentation for the special architecture of the Paternoster Hall.

This format expands on the idea of the temporary exhibition and will change the face of Die Neue Sammlung: For ten months, the two-storey Paternoster Hall, which can be viewed from a gallery, will showcase how the designer in question tackles the museum’s displays. The movement of the paternoster lifts will programmatically reflect the proactive approach taken by Die Neue Sammlung.

In his exhibition, Grcic will devote himself to three thematic areas.

His “chair_ONE” project is presented in the form of the multi-year development process (1999/2000–2004), from first model to final product. The collection at Die Neue Sammlung already features almost all the design phases of chair_ONE – together they paint a picture of his ideas and how he approaches design. The exhibits are models made of wire, carton, sheet steel or 3D prints – and are juxtaposed with the final product made by Italian manufacturer Magis. What they reveal is Grcic’s serious and detailed inquiry into the best materials, the surface’s shape, the weight, and the overall volume.

In the form of over 30 products, in the paternoster lifts themselves Konstantin Grcic is presenting key current items. An industrial designer by training, he primarily designs furniture, and his oeuvre is typified as much by stringency as it is by diversity. From flower tubs through tables and seats, shelves and luminaires, to chaise longues, Konstantin Grcic is at home working with the broadest variety of materials, be it plastic, wood, steel, marble or carbon. His designs stand out for their exceptional technological innovativeness, precision, efficient use of materials, and perfect forms.

The third section in the “Temporary 2” room centers on a scenographic installation of Grcic’s walk-through TT-Pavilion, devised in 2014 as a trade-fair stand for Audi. Hatchbacks, radiator elements and tank tops from the Audi TT are used as modules for the windows and folding doors, contrasting with the wood of the walls. The octagonal mobile architecture brings to mind the wooden houses of the likes of Jean Prouvé or Charlotte Perriand just as it does the plastic pavilion utopias of a Jean Benjamin Maneval or Matti Suuronen. Konstantin Grcic had his pavilion land like a UFO in front of a surreal landscape carried out by poster-maker René Birkner and painter Alina Birkner.

Process, furniture and architecture are the key themes in “Konstantin Grcic: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly”. The title, borrowed from a classic Western, points ironically to the highly emotional potential of design and its reception.

The exhibition will be accompanied by a publication featuring photos by Gerhardt Kellermann, designed by Lambl/Homburger, with an essay by Hubert Filser based on a conversation he moderated between Konstantin Grcic and Tim Bechthold, Head of Conservation, as well as an introduction to Grcic’s oeuvre by Angelika Nollert.