Redesigning Europe

 

Design Impulses from Central and East European Countries

 

Title of the Hungarian exhibition: 25 Years - 25 Objects, Winners of the Hungarian Design Award

Location: Museum für Kommunikation, Berlin

Open: from 28 January 2005 until 3 March 2005 .

At the invitation of the International Design Zentrum and the Collegium Hungaricum in Berlin the Hungarian Design Council will contribute to a design exhibition representing our region with the work title: "25 Years - 25 Objects, Winners of the Hungarian Design Award". The curator of the exhibition is designer Mr. Attila Bárkányi, Deputy Head of Department at the Hungarian University of Arts and Design.

It is since 1980, i.e. for 25 years, that the level of shape and design of the Hungarian industrial products has been tested. Full recognition was first granted in the form of the Nívó-prize, which was renamed Hungarian Design Award in 2003.

The Hungarian Design Council will celebrate the 25th anniversary of the design award in Hungary with a retrospective exhibition. Looking back it is surprising to see the attractiveness of some objects forgotten although not so old. Beside those objects that are even acceptable today there are, however, plenty of others that won the prize not so much because of their excellence in shape but due to certain industrial policy objectives.

For the present exhibition we have selected 25 typical objects in memory of the last 25 years. Most of the objects were manufactured in the past years. It would have been impossible to exhibit an object of each year, as there is no Modern Age collection of objects or design collection in Hungary . The majority of the manufacturers have already ceased to exist or changed their profiles drastically around the time of the change of regime, and the prototypes of the objects formerly rewarded have also vanished with them.

It was in the traditional Hungarian industries (electronic, furniture, silicate and textile), having employed designers in the largest numbers, where the majority of the outstanding results in design were achieved. Besides, there is another area of Hungarian design that could boast with significant design and production results, that is, vehicle manufacture and especially the manufacture of buses and railway vehicles. However, due to the limits of the exhibition these cannot be displayed, unfortunately.

Acknowledgements are due to the Directorate of Hungarian Cultural Institutes, Ministry of National Cultural Heritage for their logistic assistance.