Totem and Taboo thematises the problems of separation and transference that create a discrete confusion in the relations between art and design. The reference to Freud pays homage in the guise of a metaphor. “Totemic” means the relationships that both art and design entertain with the object, the “thing”. “Tabooized” are—or are no longer—the seductive copulas of the artist-designer as well as the designing artist. Beyond the hype surrounding DesignArt and Critical Design, the dialogue between designers and artists is apparently infinitely complex and intriguing, specify the curators in the circle of the Berlin Bauhaus Archives. Elena Agudio, Bessaam El-Asmar, Tido von Oppeln and Alexandra Waldburg-Wolfegg collect works by contemporary artists and designers whose theoretical work lies at the borders of their disciplines.
Curators's texts in English
Artists' texts in German