Tribute to Furniture Designer Erich Dieckmann in Halle and Berlin
News from 05/12/2021
SPK and SMB to partner the state of Saxony-Anhalt: retrospective on Bauhaus designer Erich Dieckmann to open in spring 2022, produced by the Kunstgewerbemuseum and Kunstbibliothek of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin in collaboration with the Art Foundation of Saxony-Anhalt and Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design Halle.
In the spring of 2022, a large exhibition dedicated to the furniture designer, Bauhaus disciple and Burg Giebichenstein instructor Erich Dieckmann (1896–1944) will be held in Halle (Saale) and Berlin. It will be the first time that a major event has been devoted to Dieckmann in over thirty years. The rediscovery of this influential designer who, like Marcel Breuer, experimented with shapes and materials, and who developed standardized unit furniture based on strictly geometrical shapes, was the common brainchild of partners in Berlin and beyond: the Kunstgewerbemuseum (Museum of Decorative Art) and the Kunstbibliothek (Art Library) of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (National Museums in Berlin) are teaming up with the Art Foundation of Saxony-Anhalt and Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design Halle. Dieckmann worked in both Berlin and Halle (Saale).
In addition to presenting Dieckmann's life and work, the project will also explore the influence of his ideas on today's designers. The state of Saxony-Anhalt is providing major support for the exhibition, which is scheduled to open on February 12, 2022, in the rooms of the Art Foundation of Saxony-Anhalt in Halle (Saale) and the exhibition spaces of Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design Halle. From April 8 onward, the exhibition will be shown at the Kunstgewerbemuseum of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin at the Kulturforum.
For the President of the Stiftung Preussischer Kulturbesitz (Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation), Hermann Parzinger, the Erich Dieckmann exhibition is an example of the Foundation's good working relationship with the state of Saxony-Anhalt: "Two years ago, we jointly organized a Bauhaus dinner in honor of this great designer, and now we're doing an exhibition. The SPK is a living example of cultural federalism, and our institutions are pleased to host exhibitions from the Länder on a regular basis. So I am delighted that Saxony-Anhalt is visiting Berlin once again and that our museums are making a guest appearance in Halle."