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The Age of Coal. A European History

Space4

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Designer
Space4
Client
Ruhr Museum, Essen; Deutsches Bergbau-Museum Bochum
Floor area
3000.00 ㎡
Completion
2018

Visitors following the dramatic composition that is the original flow of coal through the coal mixer at Zollverein today can still feel the power and vigour which once prevailed in this building tailor-made to harbour them. This venue is the playing field on which we creatively merge design and history. Here, design has only one purpose - serving the essential constituents, namely the space and the objects, by shining a light on their intrinsic values instead of overstating their nature. Design elements provide structure and help position the objects adequately, protect and showcase them and put them into the right context. From the tiniest particle of coal dust to a steel ingot that tips the scales at several tons, from a crumpled slip of paper to a full-length portrait painting - the exhibits cover the entire bandwidth of objecthood. That alone conjures up thrilling and oftentimes surprising insights and correlations time and again. The exhibition design puts individual object arrangements into an aesthetic context and thus underscores their sensual and, in particular, visual potential.