Design serves as a universal language, connecting time, cultures and disciplines. In this milestone year and beyond, the Museum für Gestaltung Zürich aims to enhance engagement with its globally significant collection by collaborating with designers and artists worldwide.

“Our collection holds a treasure of knowledge and beauty, waiting to be explored through a novel perspective. It is a wealth of diverse objects that can be rediscovered time and again. It is fascinating to see how people with different cultural narratives and approaches to design and artistic practices encounter our collection, create new connections, and enliven it with their own perspectives.”

(Christian Brändle, Director, Museum für Gestaltung Zürich)

In collaboration with Swissnex and the global Swiss network for education, research and innovation, MfG invited six contemporary designers and artists from Brazil, China, India, Japan, South Africa and the USA to produce an exhibit.

1. DUETO: Matheus Leston examines the reciprocal influence between Swiss and Brazilian art and design, questioning prevailing narratives and shedding light on the work of Brazilian students of Max Bill.
2. Mirage: A computer-generated short film by Takafumi Matsunaga, where traditional Japanese dyers’ stencils are transformed into peculiar objects and architectures that form a futuristic landscape.
3. Aaram-aa?/ಆರಾಮ?: Bhavana Kumar and Nicola La Noce explore Bengaluru, inspired by Charlotte Perriand’s picture diaries, searching for moments and forms of comfort in the tech metropolis of India.
4. Electronic Memory: Asma Kazmi and Jill Miller digitally reconstruct the wire sound recorder—Electronic Memory model 80-1—creating an abstract soundscape using archived tapes from various collections around the world.
5. The Shape of Echoes: Yude Li explores how music survives time as a carrier of memory, transforming the image of a viola into dynamic particles using point cloud visualisations.
6. Typographic Resistance: Osmond Tshuma‘s posters, based on the linocut letters of Paul Peter Piech, honour the legacy of influential personalities like Nelson Mandela through digital typeface and animated design.

The works will be on show from August 2025 as part of the exhibition Museum of the Future—17 digital experiments at the Museum für Gestaltung Zürich.

To further amplify the initiative, Swissnex is hosting three hybrid events throughout 2025 in Brazil, India, Japan, China and the United States. These events foster cultural dialogue and engagement, exploring critical themes such as memory, archiving practices, design historiography, ecology and social design.