The Josef Hoffmann Museum offers a new exhibition showcasing his work

Brtnice near Jihlava - The Josef Hoffmann Museum today presents Hoffmann's design and architectural work in a new permanent exhibition titled The Messenger of Beauty. According to one of the curators, Rostislav Koryčánek, the aim is to better convey to visitors who Hoffmann was. It connects his birthplace with a garden furnished with new play elements, where the creators focused on ecology and innovative approaches.

"We want visitors to perceive the entire family home as a complex, that it is not just the house and exhibition floor, but also the garden and barn. That is why today’s workshop is taking place here. We invited the design duo Eduard Herrmann and Matěj Coufal," said Koryčánek.

The duo designed a play system called the adventure playground. Originally, the designers had complete freedom in what to create for the museum. However, they aimed for something useful, not just decorative. "We decided to approach it quite radically. Everything is made from second-hand materials, there is nothing new except for 20 carabiners, which can obviously be reused. We approached it so radically that we didn't have anything sent by courier, no transportation, we searched for everything in the vicinity of Prague or in Prague itself, and we took public transport or rode bikes for everything," Herrmann said. Large-volume bags were used for some elements.

The playground can be easily folded so that it does not disrupt the garden space. Children played with it for the first time today, and according to the creators, the playground is variable, leaving room for imagination and its use can be freely modified. Part of the program for children included a workshop in the museum's library, where the children were to be inspired by Hoffmann's work. Their designs will be graphically processed by Herrmann and Coufal and incorporated into the play elements by spring.

According to Koryčánek, Hoffmann was a significant figure in architecture at the beginning of the 20th century. A pivotal point in his career was the establishment of the Wiener Werkstätte, an arts and crafts workshop, which at its peak had branches in Berlin and New York. Although it addressed the needs of the highest social classes, it represented principles whose application became widespread in society. Hoffmann can also be inspiring for contemporary creators, as evidenced by the works of Esther Stocker, Jan Plecháček, and Jakub Polanka, which are part of the new exhibition.

The birthplace of Josef Hoffmann is owned by the town of Brtnice. Since 2006, it has been managed by the Moravian Gallery in Brno. The house serves as a joint workspace for the gallery and the Vienna Museum of Applied Arts. Koryčánek was the curator of the new exhibition for the Moravian Gallery, while Rainald Franz contributed to it from the Vienna museum.

The Josef Hoffmann Museum is open on weekends in December, and during the summer months, it is open daily except Mondays.

Hoffmann was born in Brtnice in 1870. He studied architecture at the Vienna Academy under Karl von Hasenauer and Otto Wagner. In 1897, he co-founded the Association of Visual Artists of Austria - Secession with Gustav Klimt and other artists. He was involved in almost all areas of applied arts: designing glass, porcelain, metals, jewelry, furniture, and patterned textile collections. He died in Vienna in 1956.