Wie Leben?

What does our future look like? How should it look? How can we shape the future? These questions have occupied humankind since time immemorial. In the last 100 years in particular visions and plans for the future have been created by artists, architects and scientists. Some remained visions, while others were realized and continue to influence our lives today. The exhibition How to live? –Visions of the future yesterday and today, which marks the 150th anniversary of BASF SE, showcases past and present ideas for the future in art, architecture and design.
How do we want to live? Man’s preoccupation with the space he has created, in other words, planning, designing and constructing buildings, has always aimed at shaping our life in future times. The respective visions of the future from the early 20th century until today are especially clearly expressed in architectural designs. The exhibition contrasts visions and designs in architecture from El Lissitzky to Buckminster Fuller to Sou Fujimoto.
How do we want to work? Many plans for the future that sought to juxtapose a new image with the actual world we live and work in are based on the way things have developed from industrialization until today. With works by August Sander to Bernd and Hilla Becher and Robert Häusser to Harun Farocki, the diverse aspects of the working world are expressed.
How do we shape the world? Between human living and working conditions on the one hand and the all-embracing and often highly abstract future visions in architecture on the other, the area of design appears to be a pragmatic, human-oriented means of shaping the world. Here, the collaboration and mutual influence of developments in industry as well as free and applied arts are particularly underlined through works by De Stijl or Verner Panton.

Curators
Astrid Ihle, Theresia Kiefer, Jana Franze, René Zechlin

Principal sponsor
BASF SE