Design for Berlin

During the 2025/26 winter term, mut.und.anmut, in collaboration with the Werkbundarchiv – Museum der Dinge in Berlin-Mitte, developed the scenography, exhibition graphics and accompanying media for the exhibition ‘Gestalten für Berlin – Design der Kunsthochschule Berlin-Weißensee’ (Design für Berlin – Design at weißensee academy of art berlin). The exhibition catalogue was designed during the 2026 summer term. The exhibition can be seen at the Werkbundarchiv – Museum der Dinge until the end of February 2027. The catalogue will be published by Spector Books in autumn 2026.

Founded in 1946 in north-east Berlin, the art college in Berlin-Weißensee epitomises Berlin’s post-Second World War history – with all its new beginnings and upheavals – like almost no other institution. Above all, however, it stands for generations of designers who have shaped everyday life in Berlin. Whether it’s the Berlinale poster or the ‘International’ cinema, the S-Bahn and U-Bahn, small cars or bicycles, the world time clock or fire walls, climate-protective façades or site-specific art: lecturers, students and graduates from weißensee create designs for Berlin’s culture, for mobility, urban space, housing and climate protection.
‘Gestalten für Berlin’ highlights the connection between artistic foundations, design and practice, and presents works from the fields of industrial design and graphic design from 1946 to the present day. With an eye to both history and the present, the exhibition looks to the future: what form must design education take to find answers to the questions of our time? ‘Gestalten für Berlin’ closes a gap in the public perception of an institution that represents both East German and pan-German design.
This is a priority for the Werkbundarchiv – Museum der Dinge, which, even 35 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, remains the only museum in Berlin to permanently exhibit East German, West German and German design together.