19 December 2022

Wien Museum MUSA presents innovations in pedagogic, architecture and design from between the world wars at the exhibition 'Atelier Bauhaus, Wien - Friedl Dicker und Franz Singer' (until 26 March 2023)

Wien Museum is the city's research and exhibition hub with focus on the history of Vienna. Almost or already forgotten historical facts in fields like fashion, furniture design, architecture or photography are the red threads of these explorations which result in exhibitions such as the current one about the architects, designers Friedl Dicker and Franz Singer at the Wien Museum branch MUSA. Dicker and Singer were trendsetters in modern interior design and architecture during the two world wars. Their work was almost lost due the Nazi regime in Austria.

Recently, architect Sir Norman Foster (article by the Wien Museum Magazin) visited the exhibition which follows the lifelines of Friedl Dicker and Franz Singer and provides this way insights into new educational approaches especially practiced as well as developed by the Bauhaus art school where both studied, and literally new 'perspectives' in architecture - several examples of construction plans by the architects Dicker and Singer show the signature axonometric drawing technique which enabled a more 3 dimensional perception of a room. The third pillar of the exhibition is Dicker & Singer's design of objects like furniture which is characterized by multifunctionality and transformability through fold or stack functions. Singer took care of the design of the carpentry work with its rotating and folding mechanisms. Dicker was responsible for the color and material designs as well as the creation of textiles such as furniture covers, belt coverings, curtains, bedspreads and tapestries.

Franz Singer moved in 1934 to London and escaped the Holocaust. Friedl Dicker lived from 1933 in Czechoslovakia. In 1942, Friedl Dicker was deported to the concentration camp Auschwitz where she was killed in 1944.

Image: Exhibition view 'Atelier Bauhaus, Wien - Friedl Dicker und Franz Singer', 24 November 2022 until 26 March 2023 at the Wien Museum MUSA. Photo: timtom.