10/09/2021 - 01/09/2041

X-D-E-P-O-T

A new space for Die Neue Sammlung – THE DESIGN MUSEUM


With X-D-E-P-O-T, Die Neue Sammlung – The Design Museum at the Pinakothek der Moderne is opening the doors onto a new and extremely versatile space.

The total of 600 square meters is already set up in the second basement level of the west wing of the Pinakothek der Moderne and boasts direct access to the exhibition rooms of Die Neue Sammlung. Originally earmarked as a display depot, the space could not be opened with the Pinakothek der Moderne as planned and has instead to date been used as a museum warehouse.

The X-D-E-P-O-T will be open to the public and offers an array of new possibilities. Die Neue Sammlung is now able to exhibit its inventory on a larger and more comprehensive scale – and will do so in a very specific and original way. Like sequences of images, objects are brought together in constellations that visualize various different themes. These incorporate correlations of materials, shapes and colors, as well as design categories, styles from specific periods in time, and current discourse.

Visitors gain many an insight into both the history of the collection at the world’s oldest design museum and the questions of substance arising in modern and contemporary design.

Furthermore, the X-D-E-P-O-T also enables Die Neue Sammlung to intervene in current debates concerning the format of (design) museums. After all, museums – and design museums in particular – are no longer perceived as institutions that merely present their inventories in static form as a final result. Rather, they are now more focused on exploring the creation of architectures that permit varied semantics in relation to space, time, and narration. In the X-D-E-P-O-T, the items exhibited and presented tell a different story, of their diversity, of the simultaneity of the non-simultaneous, of the process of an idea and its realization.

The X-D-E-P-O-T, combined with Die Neue Sammlung’s collection space and its temporary exhibitions, forms a new, visionary triad that redefines the understanding of the museum as an institution and its collections and exhibitions, as well as visitors’ observation, learning and involvement in them.

X-D-E-P-O-T. Photo: Patrizia Hamm
X-D-E-P-O-T. Photo: Gerhardt Kellermann

Architecture by KUEhn Malvezzi

Arriving from the collection rooms, visitors access the newly installed X-D-E-P-O-T via a short connecting corridor.

On arrival they see 15 black, industrial shelves reaching to the ceiling are fitted along three walls. The shelving is supplemented by five vertical lattice walls for upright attachment of exhibition items.

In front of the fourth, free wall there are two further shelf units of the same height positioned apart from each other but connected by four floor platforms.

Visitors access the room level, which is three meters down, via the entry stairs, or they can take a newly developed, steel-clad ramp route that leads to a lift for barrier-free access to the space. It is also here that the circuitous route along the upper rows of shelves begins. With these two different levels, it is possible to observe many items from a convenient angle and a shorter distance, and countless new perspectives open up on the different shelf levels.

Also accessible from the ramp is a steel staircase taking visitors down to the lower level. Hence, visitors can decide for themselves which route they take through the X-D-E-P-O-T.

With options for sequencing and grouping a huge range of different objects and with the lighting and route guidance, the architecture facilitates an exhibition format that clearly differs from the standard collection presentation. Thus, visitors are given a notably different and new point of entry into the collection.

Curatorial concept

In a kind of spatial matrix, the exhibition items are arranged according to content and aesthetics/shape and assigned to the shelves accordingly. Thus, various relationships can be established between the objects both vertically and horizontally. The uppermost shelves are assigned exclusively to chairs and seating or lamps. These omnipresent design themes form continuous horizontal bands, yet the specific selection of the objects dictates the respective vertically arranged shelf themes. Correlations in the substance and form of objects appear again and again spanning different shelves. Thus develops, so to speak, a fabric of motifs, the connections within which can also be perceived associatively.

The X-D-E-P-O-T incorporates a total of around 30 design themes and 600 objects. Many of the objects and content presented in the X-D-E-P-O-T have never before been exhibited.

These include objects from the collection segments of tools, packaging design, gaming or secondary architecture, material studies on carbon, wickerwork, metal or industrial ceramics, sample items on the colors red and green, and current topics such as medical design, sustainability or protection.

The X-D-E-P-O-T does not structure things by chronology, geographical boundaries or hierarchy. Objects from different periods in time and of different origins and with no traditional canon are presented together for the sake of opening up new angles on them. The focus is on phenomena, high-quality design, and good ideas.

The X-D-E-P-O-T is also intended to be used as a multifunctional space as soon as anti-corona measures are loosened or lifted once again.

Chairs and seating created by designers invite visitors to relax and try things out. In cooperation with designers, start-ups as well as primary, secondary and special-needs schools and higher education institutions will regularly develop projects and workshops. New digital and barrier-free tools are designed to provide further experiences by means of text, images, films and sound. As a space of experiences and exchange, the X-D-E-P-O-T is also addressing the contemporary challenges of discourse, interaction and inclusion. It defines itself as a place to spend time that stimulates the senses.

X-D-E-P-O-T. Photo: Patrizia Hamm
X-D-E-P-O-T. Photo: Patrizia Hamm

The X-factor

The name of the space, X-D-E-P-O-T, references the original intention for the room as a “display depot”. While a display depot in the original sense refers to a storage room in a museum that is made accessible to the public, the X-D-E-P-O-T is intended as a more multipurpose space.

The “X” can be paired as an “X-factor” with various different words to form a compound expression with the word “depot”. Here though, the “X” can also act as an abbreviation for terms beginning with the prefix “ex”, thus connecting the space to various functions: X-plore, X-change, X-perience, X-pose, X-plain, X-tend,

X-hibit, X-periment, X-amine, X-press, X-ercise, X-pand and many more. As a new expression, X-D-E-P-O-T has the potential to encompass all these meanings.

THE DIGITAL X-D-E-P-O-T

From September 10, the X-D-E-P-O-T can also be experienced digitally with an app that includes all exhibited objects, a 360° video, short films by the curators, an interview with architect Wilfried Kuehn, online tours, an Instagram filter, and a digital soundboard. Hence, the X-D-E-P-O-T will be available for people to experience regardless of place and time.

“AN INCLUSIVE DESIGN EXPERIENCE“ – AN INCLUSIVE TOUCH STATION

If you would like to have this text as an audio version, in easy-to-read or as a video in German sign language, click HERE.

By introducing a new, inclusive touch station,
Die Neue Sammlung is making selected objects from the X-D-E-P-O-T accessible to all visitors. On two tables a total of seventeen specially chosen objects are available to touch. Information on the relevant items from our collection can be accessed digitally via movable monitors, and users can choose from four options on how to experience the information: (i) as a short text containing background information; (ii) as a text in language that is easy to understand; (iii) as an audio description; (iv) as a video in German sign language. The content is also available in English. The audio with all the relevant information can be played back on a one-hand headset with an induction loop. An in-depth level with images, texts, audio recordings and videos invites the visitors to explore the context of the objects.

Not only do the touch objects represent the diversity of the museum’s collection, but they also enable design ideas, based on a modular principle as well as six different materials, to be experienced haptically. To ensure that the exhibits can be appreciated as authentically as possible, particular importance has been attached to making original design objects as well as different materials available at the touch stations. The modular design objects enable visitors to combine elements themselves with models that have been put together, allowing users playful access.

For the first time, Die Neue Sammlung is proud to be offering equal participation to people with hearing and visual impairments, mobility impairments, language comprehension difficulties and cognitive impairments. The project is aimed at a broad international spectrum of visitors, making digital access to one of the world’s most important collections of design history available to everyone.

If you are dependent on the elevator, please allow a little more time. The way from the museum entrance to the X-D-E-P-O-T is a little longer – our staff will be happy to assist you.

THE TEAM OF “AN INCLUSIVE DESIGN EXPERIENCE”
Frauke Maria Petry, Project Manager for “An Inclusive Design Experience” Die Neue Sammlung
Prof. Dr. Angelika Nollert,
Director Die Neue Sammlung
Dr. Caroline Fuchs,
Curator Die Neue Sammlung
Dr. Jörg Haller,
capito Munich, External Advisor on Accessibility

SPONSORED BY:
Bavarian State Ministry of Science and the Arts &
PIN. Friends of Pinakothek der Moderne

Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich

X-D-E-P-O-T
from December 15, 2023

Installationsansicht, inklusive Taststation im X-D-E-P-O-T
Installationsansicht, inklusive Taststation im X-D-E-P-O-T, Foto: Die Neue Sammlung (K. Mewes)

X-D-E-P-O-T

Architects: Kuehn Malvezzi
Idea and concept: Angelika Nollert, Josef Straßer
Curators: Caroline Fuchs, Petra Hölscher, Angelika Nollert, Rosa Carole Rodeck, Josef Straßer
Dimensions: approx. 600 sqm (H 7.30 m / W 19.70 m / L 30.50 m)
Length of shelves: approx. 260 continuous meters
Exhibits: approx. 600 objects by approx. 350 designers

The X-D-E-P-O-T could be realized thanks to the generous support of:

Main sponsor:
Stiftung Pinakothek der Moderne

And the other sponsors:
PIN. Freunde der Pinakothek der Moderne e.V.
DJE Kapital AG
IKEA Stiftung
Museumsstiftung zur Förderung der Staatlichen Bayerischen Museen

Planning your visit

Open today till 6:00 pm

Opening Hours

Daily 10.00 – 18.00
Thursday 10.00 – 20.00
Monday closed

Location

Pinakothek der Moderne
Barer Straße 40
80333 München

Further visitor information

More information about your visit
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