What’s become of Otl Aicher’s former abode? A visit to the Allgäu.

What’s become of Otl Aicher’s former abode? A visit to the Allgäu.
Interviewed: Erik Spiekermann, type designer, author and Aicher critic.
Technology: a central notion and fixed point of perspective in the work of Otl Aicher.
The British architect Norman Foster on his friendship with Otl Aicher: He had absolute integrity.
Thoughts on the colour palettes of Otl Aicher.
Absolute sharpness, reduction and strict rules determine the character of his pictures: Otl Aicher as photographer.
Under Otl Aicher’s direction, designers, architects and landscape planners shaped the face of the Olympic Games 1972.
Inge Aicher-Scholl preserved the legacy of the White Rose.
An interview with design icon Stefan Sagmeister about typefaces, beauty and the legacy of Otl Aicher.
The International Design Center Berlin (IDZ) invites you to a slide show and panel talk at Architektur Galerie Berlin on 20 October. Karsten de Riese and Prof. Michael Klar will report on a photo reportage commissioned by BMW that took them to Tunisia in 1975 together...
On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the 1972 Olympic Games, the IDZ invites you to a discussion on the vision of the Munich Games and the status quo as well as the future of the Olympic movement on 26 August. The event at Berlin’s Akademie der Künste on Pariser...
Isny im Allgäu owes Otl Aicher a corporate design that is concise, bold and singular.
With a retrospective of Otl Aicher’s book “kritik am auto – schwierige verteidigung des autos gegen seine anbeter” (Criticism of the Car – Difficult Defence of the Car against its Worshippers) published in 1984, the IDZ continues its series of events on the “otl...
Eine Stadt leuchtet: Mit seinem farbenfrohen Erscheinungsbild der XX. Olympischen Sommerspiele 1972 setzte Otl Aicher ein Signal. Die junge Bundesrepublik war in der Moderne angekommen.
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...
Reflections on Inge Aicher-Scholl and Otl Aicher.
The International Design Center Berlin (IDZ) is taking Otl Aicher’s centenary as an opportunity to pay tribute to this great designer and to make his work visible. An online platform and a series of events will address Otl Aicher’s multifaceted cosmos of topics and...
Otl Aicher’s Dept. XI team: the visual identity of the Munich ’72 Olympics was the work of graphic designers, illustrators and technical staff from all over the world.
Otl Aicher’s Poster displays for the Ulmer Volkshochschule (Ulm Adult Education Centre).
From O to R: Let’s talk about a hedgehog, standardisation and neurotis for a change (please click on the letters).
Aicher’s childhood and youth: the years 1922 to 1945.
Otl Aicher’s signage systems for airports, metro stations and hospitals are considered exemplary to this day.
Der einstige Braun-Chef-Designer im Gespräch über den Co-Gründer der HfG.
A Broadcast: What is his place in today’s world?
The Aichers: a brief family history.
Drawing in Rotis: former Aicher co-worker Reinfriede Bettrich talks about hand sketches, the first computers and everyday life at the office.
How Otl Aicher’s papers and materials came to the HfG-Archiv/Museum Ulm.
Die Küche zum Kochen (The Kitchen for Cooking) – the genesis of a book that has lost none of its relevance.
How a dachshund conquered the world: former Aicher staff member Elena Schwaiger on plush animals, fakes and the authentic mascot of the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich.
Le Violon d’Ingres or An Attempt to Defend the Writings of Otl Aicher.
Otl Aicher as the architect of Rotis.
Otl Aicher and his critique of the automobile.
First broadcast: 15.02.1971 on Bayerischer Rundfunk, Munich (Only available in German).
Interviewed: Jürgen Werner Braun on his collaboration with Otl Aicher.
They created the signature of an epoch: designers Otl Aicher, Willy Fleckhaus, Anton Stankowski and Kurt Weidemann.
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
Contact for media enquiries:
Wilhelm Nöldeke
Medien & Kommunikation
IDZ | Internationales Design Zentrum Berlin e.V.
Hagelberger Straße 52 | 10965 Berlin
idz.de
T +49 (0)30 6162321-0
presse@idz.de