Online archive exhibition on the history of F+F School
The F+F School of Experimental Design (founded in 1971, today F+F School of Art and Design) stood for a distinct and unique approach to alternative art pedagogy. Based on its radical democratization, ideas around artistic research and alternative forms of design education, the F+F stood apart from other schools of arts and crafts. The school soon became known throughout Europe as a hub for experimental art and design. The archives documenting this history are perhaps the most important still untapped source on Swiss art in the 1970s. Today, the F+F School of Art and Design is the most important school in German Switzerland for students of art and design who do not have a Matura or are in secondary education.
On the occasion of the 50th anniversary in 2021, an online archive exhibition titled F+F 1971 will be launched that includes digitized documents, photographs, film, and video on the history of the F+F school. The documents from various archives will be contextualized by time witnesses and the editorial research team. It shows how the F+F challenged and expanded educational policies of the time and accomplished a broad and open access to art and design. Distancing themselves from an emphasis on studying solely the formal principles of design, the teachers at the school included social issues, critical thinking, cross-disciplinary practices and experimental methodologies.
The website will be launched in June 2021, with editorial work continuing for one more year, and will stay online after that. A conference at Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst Zürich and an exhibition at Kunsthalle Bern is being organized in collaboration with F+F School.