In the frame of the Hungarian Presidency of the Council of the European Union, the Design Museum Brussels is delighted to welcome the Museum of Applied Arts Budapest. Through this collaboration, the two institutions will show Innovating across Borders. Reflections on the Oeuvre of Sándor Borz Kováts curated by Judit Horváth PhD. This show provides the first opportunity for the pieces of Sándor Borz Kováts to be displayed in the heart of Europe alongside those of Western European designers who worked during the second half of the 1960s and the first half of the 1970s.

This exhibition aspires to expand from multiple perspectives the life of Sándor Borz Kováts that was cut much too short. On the one hand, it embeds the small number of objects that have survived into an international context; and on the other hand, through the work of today’s students and recent graduates of the campus that was so important to him: the Moholy-Nagy University of Art & Design Budapest, elaborating the lifework of Borz Kováts.

Sándor Borz Kováts (1940-1973) lived only 33 years, and yet he was one of the most significant Hungarian designers of his era and was among the first to represent system-level design in the country. Borz Kováts designed, developed and executed objects suited for standardized production in an era in which there was neither a manufacturing infrastructure, nor resources or a market to support this. He was inspired by what was happening on the other side of the Iron Curtain, in a freer world, where the market was built around design, and at the same time, designers could rely on stable demand and sustainability. He wanted the objects he designed to be accessible to everyone, and for them to not be considered luxury items.

From tables and armchairs to lamps, the pieces selected from the Plastic Design Collection are contemporary to Sándor Borz Kováts but authored by western designers such as Rodolfo Bonetto and Giancarlo Mattioli. Utilizing similar materials but in a different context, the similarities of shapes found on these pieces spark a reflection on how the designers worked under different circumstances. Their overlaps and their discrepancies, creating a historical parallel through design.

PRACTICAL INFORMATION

When:

Innovating across borders. Reflections on the Oeuvre of Sándor Borz Kováts
08.05.2024 > 22.09.2024

Where :

Design Museum Brussels
Place de la Belgique 1 – 1020 Brussels

Info: [email protected] / 02 669 49 29

Opening hours: from Monday to Sunday 11am > 7pm