Zollverein, Essen, Hall V, August 28 to October 19 2010.

 

Imagine a world with no norms: paper does not fit in to your printer, finding the right clothes would take a lot more effort, and your milk will come in different cans all the time. During the industrialization at the beginning of the 20th Century, the production facilities for mass production described a strong rationalization of production and standardization of parts was inevitable. The DIN (the Deutsches Institut für Normung, since 1918) was soon to be leading for European consumerproducts. Rationalization of the production process and standardisation of products brought society a lot of advantages, like quality norms, efficiency, costs savings and international distribution.

 

But there are also a few remarks to make about standardization: products are always based on the average and the end-user is in some cases treated as part of a machine. And since then the world has changed; society is multicultural and asks for customized products to identify itself with. Are the existing standards, based on industry, production and distribution, in these circumstances still valid? Or should we have a focus on the (multicultural) enduser?

 

In an exhibition, and an accompanying publication, the history of standardization will be told on the basis of standardizing in consumer products, interior design and visual communication from around 1900 till now (e.g. Peter Behrens, Piet Zwart, Wim Crouwel, Otl Aicher).

 

Also questions will be asked about the benefits of standards for

today and tomorrow, showing examples in which standardization has gone too far, or in which contemporary designers question the relevance of standardization. This project is an initiative of the foundation Design Den Haag 2010 - 2018.