ATCZ264 – JH New digital

Josef Hoffmann mediated anew. The Josef Hoffmann Museum as an interface of international collaboration, and the work of Josef Hoffmann as a testing ground for innovative museum work, in particular for the use of digital technology

Duration of project: 1.3.2021 - 31.12.2022
 

Project partners: 

MAK - Museum of Applied Arts, Vienna, City of Brtnice, NDU - New Design University Private University GesmbH 

www.mak.at, www.moravska-galerie.cz, www.brtnice.cz, https://www.ndu.ac.at/new-design-university/

The project is a reaction to the (post-) pandemic situation of museums. It presents Josef Hoffmann's legacy using digital technology, making it available to all interested parties online everywhere in the world. Josef Hoffmann was a co-founder of the Wiener Werkstätte and a central figure of an epoch known today as "Central European Modernism."

Focusing on the person of Josef Hoffmann, the project will constitute the first completely digital presentation of his work, complemented by a virtual reality reconstruction of the Wiener Werkstätte's first showroom.  An international conference will subsequently bring together an interdisciplinary public in the MAK (possibly online) to discuss how the principles of the Wiener Werkstätte can be applied in contemporary design. The remaining project deliverables will also be realized while considering the necessity of mediating them entirely online. Besides two seasonal exhibitions in the summer of 2022, the Josef Hoffmann Museum in Brtnice (hereinafter MJH) will also house a new permanent exhibition featuring contemporary trends in museum presentations and accompanied by a publication on Josef Hoffmann for children. The barn in the MJH building will be renovated under the patronage of the City of Brtnice and converted into a multifunctional room for temporary exhibitions and accompanying cultural and educational events based on Josef Hoffman's heritage. The barn will be the focal point for all partners' project activities. After its reconstruction, in 2022 a permanent virtual reality exhibition will be opened there, based on the NDU's research project "Traces of Modernity" and prepared by the MG and the MAK. 
 

The project includes developing innovative educational products through a visiting lecturer program that will feature workshops and presentations offered throughout the MJH Building to a range of target groups-thus reanimating the genius loci. Josef Hoffman's wide-ranging legacy will be further secured by an imaginative "overstepping" of the MJH Building's boundaries: for children and adults in Brtnice and environs, an adventure trail and cycle path will trace Josef Hoffmann's achievements and include a visit to the Hoffmann family's newly restored graves.

The project has a total budget of 1.09 million Euro and is 85% financed by the European Union's European Regional Development Fund (INTERREG V-A Austria - Czech Republic) as well as bythe state budget of the Czech Republic.