Sagmeister & Walsh: Beauty

After his greatly successful Happy Show, the graphic design superstar from New York Stefan Sagmeister returns to the Museum Angewandte Kunst in 2019. In his new exhibition project Beauty, developed in collaboration with his studio partner Jessica Walsh, he provides a very personal—and visually compelling—plea for the appreciation and enjoyment of beauty. With spectacular interactive installations, the renowned design duo Sagmeister & Walsh take visitors along on a sensually pleasurable quest: what is beauty and why do we feel attracted to it?

With the help of numerous examples from product design, urban planning, architecture and graphic design together with newly produced installations, they invite the audience to see, smell and touch. All as part of an attempt to demonstrate that beautifully designed objects stimulate human perception and ultimately work better. Supported by insights from psychological aesthetics, history, philosophy and the natural sciences, Sagmeister & Walsh take the view that beauty is more than just a superficial strategy: it influences our everyday life, stimulates our perception and makes the world a better place.

Throughout the entire 20th and 21st centuries, beauty has increasingly fallen out of favor within design discourse. Sagmeister & Walsh counter this antipathy with impressive arguments while facilitating the experience of beauty as a central, functional aspect of appealing design. After its premiere in Vienna, the exhibition, created in cooperation with the MAK, Vienna, now permeates the entire first floor of the Museum Angewandte Kunst in Frankfurt/Main. Around 70 object groups and installations, divided into six exhibition themes—”What is Beauty,” “A Short History of Beauty,” “The Eye of the Beholder,” “Experiencing Beauty,” “Transformational Beauty” and “Contemplating Beauty,” spark an aesthetic discourse on beauty as a paradigm for high-quality design.

Sagmeister & Walsh: Beauty is the second exhibition project that Stefan Sagmeister has realized with the Museum Angewandte Kunst. With The Happy Show, he shared his rousing quest for happiness with the audience in 2016. The exhibition is a cooperation between the Museum Angewandte Kunst and the MAK, Vienna. The exhibition was curated in Vienna by Kathrin Pokorny-Nagel and is coordinated by Peter Zizka at the Museum Angewandte Kunst.

Catalogue Sagmeister & Walsh: Beauty
Hermann Schmidt Verlag, German, 284 pages, 377 colour images, 17,1 x 24,1 cm, 39,80 Euro. / Phaidon, English, 280 pages, 377 colour images, 17.1 x 24.1 cm.

Notebook Sagmeister & Walsh: Beauty
nuuna by brandbook, designed by Stefan Sagmeister, 256 pages, 16.5 x 22cm, flex cover with recycled bonded leather.

Director: Matthias Wagner K
Project coordinator: Peter Zizka
Press contact: Annie Buenker, T +49 69 212 75339 / presse.angewandte-kunst [​at​] stadt-frankfurt.de

The exhibition is funded by Dr. Marschner Stiftung. Associated Partner is Jaguar. The exhibition is supported by Bankhaus Metzler, BEITEN BURKHARDT Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft mbH, Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLC and Zumtobel. Sponsored by Merz Pharma and HTC VIVE.