A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE. AFRICAN CERAMICS FROM THE COLLECTION OF FRANZ, DUKE OF BAVARIA

Die Neue Sammlung – The Design Museum is celebrating the recent accession of more than 1,000 African ceramics from the Collection of His Highness, Franz Duke of Bavaria, acquired as a donation or permanent loan. In 2019 we will be honouring this generous endowment with a comprehensive exhibition and publication documenting the formal and functional richness of African ceramics as well as the diverse circumstances surrounding their origin. The objects’ display in a design museum allows for a historical analysis of the vessels and figures and the techniques that lie behind them. Taking the select objects as its starting point, the exhibition expands on ceramic production in Africa as a whole – exploring form, function, ornament, and materiality – and shows the distinctions from, as well as parallels with, international design practices.

For the development of the exhibition architecture, The New Collection was able to win over the internationally renowned architect Asif Khan from London. Khan is currently also designing the new Museum of London and a Centre of Contemporary Culture in Almaty, Kazakhstan.