Aut now – 100 × Austrian Design for the 21st Century
MAK Museum, Vienna
September 18, 2024 – May 18, 2025

100 objects, 100 designers, 25 years, 25 categories, 1 country: The MAK exhibition AUT NOW: 100 × Austrian Design for the 21st Century provides a varied overview of the diversity and innovation in Austrian product design in the new millennium on the basis of 100 design objects.

Each of the 25 thematic categories-from A for “Alpine” to Z for “Zeitgeist”-contains four objects that are representative of the wide range of things designed and produced in Austria from the year 2000 to the present day. They are all particularly remarkable examples of Austrian product design-role models for the 21st century. AUT NOW extends an invitation to admire and appreciate the functional, conceptual, and poetic qualities of contemporary design and discover surprising details in familiar things.

Image courtesy by MAK Museum

Image courtesy by MAK Museum

“Ideally, contemporary product design should represent a dynamic and holistic approach that revolves around the needs of contemporary society and the environment”, according to MAK Curators Sebastian Hackenschmidt and Marlies Wirth, who developed the exhibition together with Georg Schnitzer and Peter Umgeher, founders of the design studio Vandasye. With their exhibition series Design Everyday held during VIENNA DESIGN WEEK since 2017, Vandasye has regularly turned its attention to Austrian product design, identifying ideas that propose ambitious and inspiring but also sensible solutions to improve everyday life.

The 25 categories define the route through the exhibition, while allowing an in-depth response to the question of what characterizes product design today. “Good design” must take into account social challenges and innovative ways of organizing work, as well as new production techniques, distribution channels, and marketing opportunities. Formal, material, typological, and technological criteria play just as much of a role as ergonomics, social and environmental considerations, and the preservation of resources. The emotional content of objects, characterized by “maximum rizz” is also essential.

Image courtesy by MAK Museum

Image courtesy by MAK Museum

Using these categories AUT NOW creates a “school of seeing” on key aspects of product development and the design process that mostly remain invisible to users. The full spectrum of contemporary products is represented in the exhibition-from furniture, domestic appliances, tools, and lighting to accessories and consumer electronics to design for personal care, health, work, mobility, and much more.

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Image courtesy by MAK Museum

Image courtesy by MAK Museum