Swissnex × Museum für Gestaltung Zürich

In collaboration with Swissnex, the global Swiss network for education, research, and innovation, six contemporary designers and artists from Brazil, China, India, Japan, South Africa, and the USA were invited to produce an exhibit. Using digital technologies and various design disciplines, they provide new perspectives on the collection and highlight the creative potential of the objects:

• Takafumi Matsunaga, Mirage, 2025
  A computer-generated short film by Takafumi Matsunaga, where traditional Japanese dye stencils are transformed into peculiar objects and architectures that form a futuristic landscape.
   
• Studio Kumar La Noce, Aaram-aa? (Are you comfortable, are you rested?), 2025
  Bhavana Kumar and Nicola La Noce explore Bangalore, inspired by Charlotte Perriand's picture diaries, searching for moments and forms of comfort in the tech metropolis of India.
   
• Asma Kazmi und Jill Miller, Electronic Memory, 2025
  Electronic Memory by Asma Kazmi and Jill Miller digitally reconstruct the wire sound recorder, Electronic Memory model 80-1, creating an abstract soundscape using archived tapes from various collections around the world.
   
• Matheus Leston, Dueto, Contraponto, Paralaxe, 2025 
  Dueto, Contraponto, Paralaxe by Matheus Leston examines the reciprocal influence between Swiss Design and Brazilian art and design, questioning prevailing narratives and shedding light on the work of Brazilian students of Max Bill.
   
• Yude Li, The Shape of Echoes, 2025 
  With The Shape of Echoes, Yude Li explores how music survives time as a carrier of memory and constructs a system of visible echoes in which cultural objects no longer remain in silence. Using point cloud visualizations Li transforms the image of a viola into dynamic particles.
   
• Osmond Tshuma, Typographic Resistance, 2025
  Typographic Resistance: Osmond Tshuma's posters, based on the linocut letters of Paul Peter Piech, honor the legacy of influential South African personalities like Nonhle Mbuthuma and Nelson Mandela through digital typeface and animated design. 
   

Their works will be on show from August 2025 as part of the exhibition Museum of the Future—17 digital experiments at the Museum für Gestaltung Zürich. The work of Japanese video artist Takafumi Matsunaga can be seen in the premises of the Swissnex network in Osaka, Japan, in May 2025.

To further amplify the initiative, Swissnex will host three hybrid events throughout 2025 in collaboration with its hubs. These events will not only spotlight the work of the featured designers but also inspire innovative approaches to cultural preservation and interpretation. They aim to foster cultural dialogue and engagement, exploring critical themes such as sound memory, archival practices, design historiography, ecological and social design.