Collec­tion

Reflect­ing trends in contem­por­ary design as much as the concerns of contem­por­ary soci­ety, the mudac collec­tion bears witness to the profound upheavals that design has under­gone in the 20th and 21st centur­ies. Criteria for selec­tion pertain to relev­ance, origin­al­ity, ingenu­ity, innov­a­tion, and regional herit­age value and follow the two guid­ing prin­ciples of the Plate­forme 10 museums, namely commit­ment and new narrat­ives. The collec­tion there­fore goes far beyond the mere aesthetic qual­it­ies of the arte­facts selec­ted.

mudac has also been build­ing up a major collec­tion dedic­ated to design in French-speak­ing Switzer­land, in order to grasp the histor­ical, polit­ical, social, insti­tu­tional, and tech­no­lo­gical implic­a­tions of this region, which is rich in facil­it­ies and insti­tu­tions dedic­ated to design, the applied arts, and archi­tec­ture.
It is a museum that is aware of the constant evol­u­tion of the vari­ous fields of design and is work­ing to build up the cantonal design collec­tion.

 

Design

Derived from indus­trial design, fash­ion, the applied arts, and narrat­ive design, mudac’s design collec­tion comprises more than 920 objects that reflect the func­tional, formal, innov­at­ive, and aesthetic concerns of their time. The collec­tion includes furniture, light­ing, table­ware, sculp­tures, textiles, and high-tech objects.

As well as focus­ing on design­ers from French-speak­ing Switzer­land, the collec­tion also includes objects purchased for “carte blanche” events and exhib­i­tions featur­ing local and inter­na­tional design­ers. Spon­taneity, exper­i­ment­a­tion, rigour, mater­i­al­ity, and the unex­pec­ted are the watch­words that char­ac­ter­ise mudac’s design collec­tion.

The aim of mudac is to create an archive of Design in French-speak­ing Switzer­land. The aim of these archives is to safe­guard the vari­ous actions taken by indi­vidu­als and public or private compan­ies in the devel­op­ment of design in French-speak­ing Switzer­land.

Glass art

Whether blown, moul­ded or cast, polished or fros­ted, trans­par­ent or opaque, glass art in all its forms is a constant source of surprise and fascin­a­tion. mudac’s contem­por­ary glass art collec­tion opens up a whole new world of possib­il­it­ies for this discip­line, which builds bridges with contem­por­ary art, design, and the applied arts.

mudac’s contem­por­ary glass art collec­tion is the largest in Europe. It includes almost 700 works by inter­na­tional artists and illus­trates the history of this discip­line from 1950 to the present day.

Contem­por­ary jewellery

Jewellery is more than just a decor­at­ive element or a useless access­ory. It is a field of bound­less explor­a­tion that allows design­ers to ques­tion its mean­ing, func­tion, and use, and to exper­i­ment with unusual tech­niques and mater­i­als in its making.

Since the 1980s, mudac has enriched its contem­por­ary jewellery collec­tions by acquir­ing the most signi­fic­ant works in a field that is constantly under­go­ing research. Two collec­tions are repres­en­ted: the mudac collec­tion and that of the Swiss Confed­er­a­tion, on long-term loan.

Ceram­ics

mudac’s ceram­ics collec­tion, supple­men­ted by pieces on loan belong­ing to the Swiss Confed­er­a­tion, show­cases the many facets that this tech­nique can offer.

As much a tech­nique as a mater­ial, ceram­ics offers so many possib­il­it­ies that craftspeople and artists have been inter­ested in it for centur­ies. Design­ers, too, have been quick to seize on this know-how with its count­less possib­il­it­ies: stone­ware or porcel­ain, glazed or unglazed. It is not unusual to find lamps and side tables along­side vases, bowls, and sculp­tures.

Art graph­ique

While the term “design” is most often asso­ci­ated with the indus­trial and/or commer­cial creation of objects, the graphic arts consti­tute its essen­tial start­ing point – whether the creation is digital or on paper.

The mission of mudac’s graphic arts collec­tion is to collect prints, manual or computer draw­ings, mater­ial samples and models, in order to docu­ment the creat­ive process.

Contact

Anaïs Devaux

Loan request and preservation
anais.devaux@plateforme10.ch