Vom Sofakissen zum Städtebau(from sofa cushions to city-building)

Permanent Collection / Open DepotThe museum displays an extensive collection of design and everyday objects of the 20th Century in a perma-nent collection. The objects are compiled in collections and convey the foundations of the polarizing Werkbund program and other general aspects of the material, form, function and usage history of things in the 20th Century. The collection is placed in various categories: objects by famous designers and anonymous design, functional and purist objects, so-called "lapses of taste" or "kitsch," sub-stantial "honest" things and material surrogates, brand-name merchandise and no-name products.

EVIL THINGSAN ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF BAD TASTEIf we want to discern what good taste is, we must first eliminate bad taste.

With this purpose in mind, the art historian and museum director Gustav

E. Pazaurek opened his "Cabinet of Bad Taste" in the Stuttgart state crafts

museum in 1909. Pazaurek developed a complex system to categorize all

kinds of design mistakes, demonstrating them with actual examples.

I. Material MistakesBad and Spoiled MaterialsBizarre MaterialsMaterial ObsessionsViolations of MaterialsOstentatious MaterialsMaterial InfringementMaterial DecoysMaterial SurrogatesReverse Surrogates

II. Design MistakesRelief TranspositionsUnbalanced WeightUnsuitable or Tricky ObjectsCross-PurposesFunctional LiesDesign Decoys and Artistic PranksTechnical SurrogatesPatent HumourCheap Originality

III. Decorative MistakesOdd ProportionsManic Ornamentation, Wasteful DecorationArt as AtonementMisplaced or Misoriented OrnamentationDecorative BrutalityDecorative InvasionsRecipe and ChanceOriginal Decorative IdeasUnfitting Decorative MotifsAnachronistic or Exotic DecorationPrimitive DecorationNaive Decoration and Familiarity

IV. KitschCheap mass rubbish with no attention given to the choice of materials, forms and decoration.

The most common sub-categories are: Jingoistic Kitsch (especially World War horrors) Topical Kitsch Travel Souvenir Kitsch Folklore and Sportsmen’s Kitsch Devotional Kitsch Commercial Kitsch

V. Contemporary MistakesGlorification of ViolenceHarmful ToysChild LabourWaste of ResourcesPollutionCadaver ChicCrimes against Endangered SpeciesSexist DesignRacist DesignExaggerated Claims of Exclusiveness

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