Today marks the centenary of Otl Aicher’s birth. The International Design Center Berlin (IDZ) is taking this date as an opportunity to pay tribute to this great designer. With otlaicher100.de, a new online platform is being launched – a curated space that provides information about the life and work of Otl Aicher and invites discourse. In addition, a discussion and lecture evening at the Akademie der Künste will focus on ethics and the cultural dimensions of artificial intelligence.

Berlin, 13 May 2022 – Otl Aicher (1922 – 1991) is considered one of the formative German protagonists of design in the 20th century. He became internationally known above all as the design commissioner for the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich. In addition to his design projects, he always engaged deeply with social issues and actively sought the balancing act between philosophy, commerce and design – as a university founder, graphic designer, typographer, management consultant, sculptor, philosopher, author and intervening intellectual.

Today Otl Aicher would have turned 100. On the initiative of Kai Gehrmann and Florian Aicher, the IDZ is taking this date as an opportunity to explore the life and work of this great designer under the title “otl aicher 100”.

Online platform otlaicher100.de

With otlaicher100.de, an online platform will go live in the evening that is intended to serve as a first point of contact for anyone interested in Otl Aicher and inspired by his work beyond the year of the birth anniversary. It starts with several written texts – and many pictures, some of which are still “treasures” from the HfG-Archiv Ulm, which also contains Otl Aicher’s estate. The website will continue to grow until the end of the year, so a visit will always be worthwhile.

Series of events

The website will be accompanied by a series of events in the anniversary year. The first of these is today’s lecture and discussion evening “es gibt keinen Computer, der nach freiheit ruft” (There is no computer that calls for freedom) at Akademie der Künste in Berlin. Following on from Otl Aicher’s essay “kulturen des denkens” (cultures of thinking), the lectures and discussions will focus on ethics and the cultural dimensions of artificial intelligence.

With Lukas Brand, Prof. Dr. Byung-Chul Han, Prof. Karsten Henze, Lorena Jaume-Palasí, Yasemin Keskintepe, Prof. Jeanine Meerapfel, Prof. Dr. Christoph Neuberger, Wolfgang Reul and Peter Schubert.

Further events in cooperation with Akademie der Künste, Deutscher Werkbund Berlin and HfG-Archiv Ulm are planned:

25 June 2022 “of course a car is also a sign”
Retrospective of Otl Aicher: Critique of the Car, Munich 1984
7 p.m., Ulm HfG, Am Hochsträß 8, 89081 Ulm, Germany
Registration

26 August 2022 “we have bread, we have games”
Olympics as politics, Olympics as utopia, Olympics as big business – on the 50th anniversary of the 1972 Summer Olympic Games in Munich
7 pm, Plenary Hall of the Academy of Arts, Pariser Platz 4, 10117 Berlin
Registration

20 October 2022 “there is nothing here to provides shade.”
Four men and two motorbikes in the desert
7 pm, Architektur Galerie Berlin, Karl-Marx-Allee 96, 10243 Berlin
Registration

We will be happy to provide you with photographs for your media coverage on request.

Editorial team:
Florian Aicher, Thomas Edelmann, Prof. Dr. Chup Friemert, Kai Gehrmann (Artistic Director), Jasmin Jouhar, Katharina Kurz, Prof. Dr. Dagmar Rinker, Gerrit Terstiege and Fabian Wurm (Chief Editor).

Patrons:
Funded by the Federal Cultural Foundation. Funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media.

Corporate partners:
Bulthaup GmbH & Co KG; ERCO GmbH; FSB Franz Schneider Brakel GmbH + Co KG

Further sponsors and cooperation partners:
Bauhaus Dessau e.V.; Akademie der Künste, Berlin; Deutscher Werkbund Berlin e.V.; HfG-Archiv Ulm

Media partners:
ARCH+; brand eins; ndion