29 April – 11 September 2022
From 6 June till 21 December 2025 the exhibition Craft as Myth. Between Ideal and Real Life will be on display at the Japanischen Palais, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden.
The Craft as Myth. Between Ideal and Real Life focuses on universal values and messages associated with craft in the past, present, and future.
The show exposes romanticized notions as well as ideologies and reveals the emotions and affects, ideas and wishes the sphere of handcrafted produce evokes in the individual and society. This approach brings clarity and new momentum to many contemporary debates but also to the social dimension of design. The presentation comprises an array of objects, films, pictures, photographs, and artworks. The exhibition was developed in cooperation with the Kunstgewerbemuseum, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden and the vorarlberg museum, Bregenz.
The exhibition is accompanied by a comprehensive catalog in German language published by Verlag für moderne Kunst. With the combined knowledge of three museums and nuanced contributions, authors from various professions examine the myth of craftsmanship in all its facets. They shed light on aspects of the craft in an informed and multi-faceted manner. The catalog is available at the museum shop at a price of 24 euros.
With objects from numerous collections and organizations such as: Berlinische Galerie, Deutsches Historisches Museum, Sammlung zeitgenössische Kunst der Bundesrepublik Deutschland sowie Vincent Systems GmbH, BraunGmbH, Werkraum Bregenzerwald, Freitag lab. Ag und Mono GmbH
With works by: Blixa Bargeld, Olivier van Herpt, Olaf Holzapfel, Sofia Hultén, Hella Jongerius, Abir Kobeissi, Bele Marx & Gilles Mussard, Jens Risch, August Sander, TSATSAS, Heidi Vogel-Hennig, Donata Wenders und Babette Wiezorek
Curators: Grit Weber (Museum Angewandte Kunst in Frankfurt am Main), Kerstin Stöver and Ute Thomas (Kunstgewerbemuseum, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden), and Theresia Anwander (vorarlberg museum, Bregenz).
The exhibition Craft as Myth. Between Ideal and Real Life was on display at the vorarlberg museum in Bregenz from 2 March 2024 to 6 January 2025 and is currently on display at the Japanischer Palais, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, since 6 June to 21 December 2025.
Dresden is the third stop for this collaborative exhibition, which was on display at the Museum Angewandte Kunst in Frankfurt am Main in 2022 and at the vorarlberg museum in Bregenz, Austria, in 2024 and 2025. Each stop broadens the view of the diversity of craftsmanship and combines the sustainable principle of a traveling exhibition with the individual and regional characteristics of the respective host.
