Form und Zweck explained

Editor:Günter Höhne
Editor Title:Editor-in-chief
Previous Editor:Hein Köste
Publisher:Institute for Applied Art
Founded:1956
Finaldate:2008
Country:German Democratic Republic
Based:East Berlin
Language:German

Form und Zweck (German: Form and Purpose) was an East German magazine which featured articles on design. The magazine was official journal of the German Democratic Republic. It existed between 1956 and 2008.

History and profile

Started in 1956[1] Form und Zweck was published by the Institute for Applied Art.[2] Its foundation was an indicator of the change in the East Germany's cultural policy.[3] Because in the early days of the state housing architecture and city planning were emphasized as the preferred sites of socialist cultural identity.[3] However, from the mid-1950s its cultural policy became focused on commodities and domestic spaces.[3] The headquarters of the magazine was in East Berlin.[2] Its target audience was professional designers and those who were interested in design.[1]

Form und Zweck covered articles on design-related topics.[4] It reflected official preference of the state over the development of form and design in the country.[1] For instance, the magazine reinforced the use of plastic goods in line with the policies of the state.[5]

One of the editors-in-chief was Hein Köster, who was fired from the post in 1983 following his article about a fictitious museum in Prenzlauerberg.[6] Due to the fact that the content of the magazine was less checked by the authorities Köster managed to publish critical articles and to cover writings by architectural critics such as Lothar Kühne or Karl-Heinz Hüter.[7] Günter Höhne was the last editor-in-chief of the magazine.[8] [9] Hans Aust was among its contributors.[2]

Form und Zweck ceased publication in 2008.[10]

See also

Notes and References

  1. Book: Peter Romijn. Giles Scott-Smith. Joes Segal. 166. Amsterdam. Divided Dreamworlds?: The Cultural Cold War in East and West. Cold war modernism and post-war German Homes: An East-West comparison. Natalie Scholz. Milena Veenis. https://books.google.com/books?id=mq_P_KtQFOoC&pg=PA166. 2012. Amsterdam University Press. 978-90-8964-436-7.
  2. Karin Zachmann. A Socialist Consumption Junction: Debating the Mechanization of Housework in East Germany, 1956-1957. Technology and Culture. January 2002. 43. 1. 73–99. 10.1353/tech.2002.0047. 25147855. 153602189.
  3. Paul Betts. The Twilight of the Idols: East German Memory and Material Culture. The Journal of Modern History. 2000. 72. 3. 758. 10.1086/316046. 144800205 .
  4. Michèle-Anne Dauppe. After the wall. Eye. Winter 1991.
  5. Aniruddha Gupte. Synthesizing Solutions: An Exploration of the Modern Relevance of Socialist Design Principles through the Medium of Plastics. Popular Inquiry. 2019. 1. 2489-6748.
  6. Web site: Andreas Ong. etal. Meetingplace: Kulturbrauerei. Kulturverkstan. January 2000.
  7. Florian Urban. Designing the past in East Berlin before and after the German reunification. Progress in Planning. July 2007. 68. 1. 34. 10.1016/j.progress.2007.07.001.
  8. Jana Scholze. Shifting Narratives of Things: The East/West German Garden Egg Chair. Socialist Architecture. 2011. 1048-9134.
  9. Web site: Art Calendar. Goethe-Institut. dead. 30 May 2015. June 2014. 30 May 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150530162051/http://www.goethe.de/kue/bku/kka/arc/ar20140406/en12947249v.htm.
  10. Web site: Form und Zweck Archive. Gesamtinhaltsverzeichnis. 15 September 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160306100331/http://formundzweck.de/files/fuz_1956-2008.pdf. 6 March 2016. dead.