27.5.2009—28.2.2010
MAK Furniture Study Collection

Around the middle of the nineteenth century, so-called antler furniture was wide-spread in the hunting lodges of the Alpine region. These “trophies” made from hunted animals are seen today as a highly scurrilous aberration of rustic conviviality. But in modern settings, too, animal material was presented as a trophy, as it were: the examples range from classics of modern interior décor design from the 1920s that use animal fur as upholstery to ironic antler furniture pastiches from the 1980s New Design era.

Curator Sebastian Hackenschmidt, MAK Curator Furniture and Woodworks

MAK Study Collection The MAK exhibits part of its extensive collection on a permanent basis in the Study Collection. The arrangement by materials corresponds to the specializations of the collection's curators, while the selection of objects is based on major lines of development. Temporary exhibitions offer an opportunity to cast a spotlight on various aspects of the collection and to consider objects in the collection between the poles of applied and contemporary art.

Catalogue "Furniture as Trophy", edited by Peter Noever,
with contributions by Sebastian Hackenschmidt, Petra Lange-Berndt, Barbara Plankensteiner, August Ruhs, German/English, 120 pages, num. b/w and coloured illustrations. MAK Vienna / Verlag für moderne Kunst Nürnberg, 2009 MAK Design Shop