Otl Aicher 100 Jahre 100 Plakate
Exhibition in Honor of a Great Designer
With the exhibition Otl Aicher 100 Jahre 100 Plakate (engl. Otl Aicher 100 Years 100 Posters) the HfG-Archiv / Museum Ulm honors this year’s 100th birthday of this great designer who was born on May 13th, 1922, in Ulm Söflingen, and presents a selection of 100 posters as one of the central and most formative media in his extensive oeuvre.
The first posters were created as early as August 1945. They drew attention to the lectures that Otl Aicher organized in order to revitalize the spiritual and cultural life in Ulm. From this time until his death in 1991, the designer created countless posters. In 1954 he received the Prix d’Honneur at the Milan Triennale. In the same year the Museum of Modern Art, New York, purchased one of his posters. In the summer of 1959, he exhibited posters and photographs at the Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro.
Otl Aicher did not only design in the field of graphics. He wrote, he taught, he philosophized. Above all, he was always a politically thinking and acting person. All these themes are reflected in posters, which he designed for very different purposes. The significance of Otl Aicher for the history of design in the 20th century is undisputed: he was one of the co-founders of the Hochschule für Gestaltung Ulm (HfG Ulm); with the corporate designs for Deutsche Lufthansa or the 20th Olympic Games in Munich in 1972, he presented groundbreaking designs. They have lost none of their fascination to this day. For Otl Aicher, the poster had a clear task: A poster is a communication object. poster is a communication object and not an art object, and its first function is to be to be understood, right across society.
The selection of posters provides a comprehensive view of Otl Aicher’s work. It provides a view of the themes he designed and the world of his clients. A first focus are the posters for the Ulm Adult Education Center (vh ulm). This is contrasted with the posters for the 20th Olympic Games 1972 in Munich. These two blocks complement a selection of projects that were created for public clients as well as for commercial enterprises. A last focus is on the posters that Otl Aicher designed out of his political commitment.
Otl Aicher 100 Jahre 100 Plakate
When?
March 3rd, 2022–January 8th, 2023
Tuesday–Friday: 11 a.m.–5 p.m.
Saturday & Sunday: 11 a.m.–6 p.m.
Monday: closed
Where?
Museum Ulm
Am Hochsträß 8
89801 Ulm
Germany